BACKGROUND The monitoring of patients with an anxiety disorder can benefit from Routine Outcome Monitoring (ROM). As anxiety disorders differ in phenomenology, several anxiety questionnaires are... Show moreBACKGROUND The monitoring of patients with an anxiety disorder can benefit from Routine Outcome Monitoring (ROM). As anxiety disorders differ in phenomenology, several anxiety questionnaires are included in ROM: Brief Scale for Anxiety (BSA), PADUA Inventory Revised (PI-R), Panic Appraisal Inventory (PAI), Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), Worry Domains Questionnaire (WDQ), Social Interaction, Anxiety Scale (SIAS), Social Phobia Scale (SPS), and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). We aimed to generate reference values for both 'healthy' and 'clinically anxious' populations for these anxiety questionnaires. METHODS We included 1295 subjects from the general population (ROM reference-group) and 5066 psychiatric outpatients diagnosed with a specific anxiety disorder (ROM patient-group). The MINI was used as diagnostic device in both the ROM reference group and the ROM patient group. To define limits for one-sided reference intervals (95th percentile; P95) the outermost 5% of observations were used. Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analyses were used to yield alternative cut-off values for the anxiety questionnaires. RESULTS For the ROM reference-group the mean age was 40.3 years (SD=12.6), and for the ROM patient-group it was 36.5 years (SD=11.9). Females constituted 62.8% of the reference-group and 64.4% of the patient-group. P95 ROM reference group cut-off values for reference versus clinically anxious populations were 11 for the BSA, 43 for the PI-R, 37 for the PAI Anticipated Panic, 47 for the PAI Perceived Consequences, 65 for the PAI Perceived Self-efficacy, 66 for the PSWQ, 74 for the WDQ, 32 for the SIAS, 19 for the SPS, and 36 for IES-R. ROC analyses yielded slightly lower reference values. The discriminative power of all eight anxiety questionnaires was very high. LIMITATIONS Substantial non-response and limited generalizability. CONCLUSIONS For eight anxiety questionnaires a comprehensive set of reference values was provided. Reference values were generally higher in women than in men, implying the use of gender-specific cut-off values. Each instrument can be offered to every patient with MAS disorders to make responsible decisions about continuing, changing or terminating therapy. Show less
BACKGROUND The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Inventory of Depressive Symptoms (self-report) (IDS-SR) and the Montgomery-Äsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) are questionnaires that... Show moreBACKGROUND The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Inventory of Depressive Symptoms (self-report) (IDS-SR) and the Montgomery-Äsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) are questionnaires that assess symptom severity in patients with a depressive disorder, often part of Routine Outcome Monitoring (ROM). We aimed to generate reference values for both "healthy" and "clinically depressed" populations. METHODS We included 1295 subjects from the general population (ROM reference-group) recruited through general practitioners, and 4627 psychiatric outpatients diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) or dysthymia (ROM patient-group). The outermost 5% of observations were used to define limits for one-sided reference intervals (95th percentiles; P95). Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analyses were used to yield alternative cut-off values. Internal consistency was assessed. RESULTS The mean age was 40.3yr (SD=12.6) and 39.3 (SD=12.3) for the ROM reference and patient-groups, respectively, and 62.8% versus 61.0% were female. Cut-off (P95) values differed for women and men, being respectively 15 and 12 for the BDI-II, 23 and 18 for the IDS-SR, and 12.5 and 9 for the MADRS. ROC analyses yielded almost equal reference values. The discriminative power of the BDI-II, IDS-SR and MADRS scores was very high. Internal consistency was excellent for total scores and satisfactory for all subscales, except for the IDS-SR subscale Atypical Characteristics. LIMITATIONS Substantial non-response and limited generalizability. CONCLUSIONS For the BDI-II, IDS-SR and MADRS a comprehensive set of reference values were provided. Reference values were higher in women than in men, implying the use of sex-specific cut-off values. Either instrument can be offered to every patient with MAS disorders to make responsible decisions about continuing, changing or terminating therapy. Show less
