What is a good GAD score?
Score 0-4: Minimal Anxiety. Score 5-9: Mild Anxiety. Score 10-14: Moderate Anxiety. Score greater than 15: Severe Anxiety.
A score of 10 or greater on the GAD-7 represents a reasonable cut point for identifying cases of GAD. Cut points of 5, 10, and 15 might be interpreted as representing mild, moderate, and severe levels of anxiety on the GAD-7, similar to levels of depression on the PHQ-9. 10.
Score interpretation
The following guidelines are recommended for the interpretation of scores: 0–9, normal or no anxiety; 10–18, mild to moderate anxiety; 19–29, moderate to severe anxiety; and 30–63, severe anxiety.
GAD-7 Anxiety Severity
Scores represent: 0-5 mild. 6-10 moderate. 11-15 moderately severe anxiety. 15-21 severe anxiety.
A GAD-2 cut-off score of ≥ 3 provided an optimal balance of good sensitivity (0.87) and excellent specificity (0.92) for detecting clinically significant anxiety symptoms. Alternatively, a cut-off score of ≥ 2 provided excellent sensitivity (1.00) and fair specificity (0.76).
15-21 severe anxiety.
GAD-7 total score for the seven items ranges from 0 to 21. 0–4: minimal anxiety. 5–9: mild anxiety. 10–14: moderate anxiety. 15–21: severe anxiety.
To help diagnose generalized anxiety disorder, your doctor or mental health professional may: Do a physical exam to look for signs that your anxiety might be linked to medications or an underlying medical condition. Order blood or urine tests or other tests, if a medical condition is suspected.
Generalized anxiety disorder is a condition of excessive worry about everyday issues and situations. It lasts longer than 6 months. In addition to feeling worried you may also feel restlessness, fatigue, trouble concentrating, irritability, increased muscle tension, and trouble sleeping.
Scores of 5, 10, and 15 are taken as the cut-off points for mild, moderate and severe anxiety, respectively. When used as a screening tool, further evaluation is recommended when the score is 10 or greater. Using the threshold score of 10, the GAD-7 has a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 82% for GAD.
What is a valid measure of anxiety?
The most common measure used to assess anxiety in treatment outcome studies is the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A),7 8 which is a primary measure for generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) and is often used to assess general anxiety symptoms across conditions.
Mild anxiety is very close to normal everyday worries and stress. It is normal to feel mild anxiety when awaiting news on something or having an ill loved one. Symptoms of mild anxiety are usually fidgeting, sweating, heightened senses, or irritability.
The symptoms of GAD make it difficult to diagnose because they develop slowly and resemble those of other conditions. Unrealistic and overwhelming worry, which ultimately can consume the life of a person with GAD, is the primary symptom.
Scores of 5, 10, and 15 are taken as the cut-off points for mild, moderate and severe anxiety, respectively. When used as a screening tool, further evaluation is recommended when the score is 10 or greater.
GAD-7 total score for the seven items ranges from 0 to 21.
Antibodies directed against the 65-kD isoform of GAD (GAD65) are encountered at high titers (> or =20 nmol/L) in a variety of autoimmune neurologic disorders including stiff-person (Moersch-Woltman) syndrome, autoimmune cerebellitis, brain stem encephalitis, seizure disorders, and other myelopathies.
The GAD-7 has demonstrated good psychometric properties, including sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing GAD (Spitzer et al., 2006). Sensitivity and specificity decrease and increase in a continuous manner, higher sensitivity is associated by a lower cut-off point, but gives lower specificity.