Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS): validation in a Greek general hospital sample.
BACKGROUND
The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) has been used in several languages to assess anxiety and depression in general hospital patients with good results.


METHODS
The HADS was administered to 521 participants (275 controls and 246 inpatients and outpatients of the Internal Medicine and Surgical Departments in 'Attikon' General Hospital in Athens). The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were used as 'gold standards' for depression and anxiety respectively.


RESULTS
The HADS presented high internal consistency; Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.884 (0.829 for anxiety and 0.840 for depression) and stability (test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient 0.944). Factor analysis showed a two-factor structure. The HADS showed high concurrent validity; the correlations of the scale and its subscales with the BDI and the STAI were high (0.722 - 0.749).


CONCLUSIONS
The Greek version of HADS showed good psychometric properties and could serve as a useful tool for clinicians to assess anxiety and depression in general hospital patients.
Michopoulos
Ioannis
I
Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Douzenis
Athanasios
A
Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Kalkavoura
Christina
C
Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Christodoulou
Christos
C
Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Michalopoulou
Panayiota
P
Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Kalemi
Georgia
G
Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Fineti
Katerina
K
Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Patapis
Paulos
P
Third Department of Surgery, University of Athens, School of Medicine, 'Attikon' University Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Protopapas
Konstantinos
K
Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, University General Hospital 'Attikon', Athens, Greece.
Lykouras
Lefteris
L
Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.