title: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS): validation in a Greek general hospital sample.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Michopoulos
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Douzenis
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kalkavoura
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Christodoulou
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Panayiota
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Michalopoulou
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Georgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kalemi
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Katerina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fineti
authors.affiliation: Third Department of Surgery, University of Athens, School of Medicine, 'Attikon' University Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Paulos
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Patapis
authors.affiliation: Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, University General Hospital 'Attikon', Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Protopapas
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, 'Attikon' General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Lefteris
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lykouras