title: Ethnic differences in the reliability and validity of a Panic Disorder Screen.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to compare the reliability and validity of the Brief Panic Disorder Screen (BPDS) in samples of African American and Caucasian American primary care patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The BPDS was administered to 295 patients scheduled to visit a primary care clinic for medical reasons. The presence or absence of a panic disorder diagnosis was established during a clinical interview with a psychiatrist. Measures of reliability (internal consistency) and validity (criterion validity) were compared between the two ethnic subgroups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The BPDS demonstrated greater reliability and validity for Caucasians than African Americans. This effect was maintained even after controlling for group differences in key demographic variables. Differences between ethnic groups were apparent in both those with and those without panic disorder (PD). BPDS responses of African Americans with PD demonstrated very low internal consistency whereas a high rate of false positive PD diagnoses was related to higher than expected BPDS scores among African Americans without PD, particularly on the level of fear felt when experiencing shortness of breath or heart palpitations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings support the notion that cultural differences in the language and meaning associated with anxiety disorders contribute to the difficulty of accurately diagnosing PD in primary care populations. Additional research is needed to provide a better understanding of the cultural aspects of the anxiety experience. Such research would facilitate the development of better screening tools for panic and other anxiety disorders for ethnic minority primary care populations.
authors: University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610-0496, USA.
authors: Michael R
authors: MR
authors: Johnson
authors: Abraham G
authors: AG
authors: Hartzema
authors: Terry L
authors: TL
authors: Mills
authors: Jessica M
authors: JM
authors: De Leon
authors: Mark
authors: M
authors: Yang
authors: Christopher
authors: C
authors: Frueh
authors: Alberto
authors: A
authors: Santos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D010054:Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale / Q000592:standards*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013022:South Carolina; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*