title: Extending the validity of the Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer (MAX-PC) at the time of prostate biopsy in a racially-mixed population.
abstract: The Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer (MAX-PC) has been validated for assessing men with prostate cancer for cancer-specific anxiety. It was originally validated in a predominantly white population. The MAX-PC Prostate Cancer Anxiety Subscale (MAX-PC-PCAS) may be relevant for measuring cancer-specific anxiety in undiagnosed men at risk for prostate cancer. We assess the validity of the MAX-PC-PCAS at the time of prostate biopsy (n = 178). Questions assessed socio-demographic information, health status, patient-estimated risk of cancer, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale--Anxiety Subscale (HADS-A), and the MAX-PC-PCAS. The patients' most recent PSA was recorded. Cronbach's alpha, inter-item correlations, and Pearson correlations with both the HADS-A and clinical variables were compared with the original validation sample. Our sample was younger (63.1 vs 71.1 years), had a larger fraction of African-Americans (43 vs 10%), and had higher PSAs. Cronbach's alpha was equivalent (0.91 vs 0.90), median inter-item correlation was equivalent (0.63 vs 0.61), and Pearson correlation with HADS-A was higher (0.71 vs 0.57). Anxiety levels were not correlated with PSA levels, and there were minor differences in the validation findings by race. The validity of the MAX-PC-PCAS extends to men without cancer undergoing biopsy and to African-Americans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Section of Geriatrics, University of Chicago, Chicago 60637, USA. wdale@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dale
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hemmerich
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Meltzer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000523:psychology*; D044383:Black People / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012803:Sick Role; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*; D001741:Black or African American
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen