title: Brazilian Portuguese validated version of the Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cardiac Anxiety (CA) is the fear of cardiac sensations, characterized by recurrent anxiety symptoms, in patients with or without cardiovascular disease. The Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire (CAQ) is a tool to assess CA, already adapted but not validated to Portuguese.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This paper presents the three phases of the validation studies of the Brazilian CAQ.
  
  
  METHODS
  To extract the factor structure and assess the reliability of the CAQ (phase 1), 98 patients with coronary artery disease were recruited. The aim of phase 2 was to explore the convergent and divergent validity. Fifty-six patients completed the CAQ, along with the Body Sensations Questionnaire (BSQ) and the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN). To determine the discriminative validity (phase 3), we compared the CAQ scores of two subgroups formed with patients from phase 1 (n = 98), according to the diagnoses of panic disorder and agoraphobia, obtained with the MINI - Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A 2-factor solution was the most interpretable (46.4% of the variance). Subscales were named "Fear and Hypervigilance" (n=9; alpha = 0.88), and "Avoidance", (n = 5; alpha = 0.82). Significant correlation was found between factor 1 and the BSQ total score (p<0.01), but not with factor 2. SPIN factors showed significant correlations with CAQ subscales (p < 0.01). In phase 3, "Cardiac with panic" patients scored significantly higher in CAQ factor 1 (t = -3.42; p < 0.01, CI = -1.02 to -0.27), and higher, but not significantly different, in factor 2 (t = -1.98; p = 0.51, CI = -0.87 to 0.00).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results provide a definite Brazilian validated version of the CAQ, adequate to clinical and research settings.
authors.forename: Aline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sardinha
authors.forename: Antonio Egidio
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Nardi
authors.forename: Claudio Gil Soares de
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.forename: Maria Cristina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Georg H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Eifert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000379:Agoraphobia / Q000175:diagnosis; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001938:Brazil; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D013732:Test Anxiety Scale; D054928:Validation Studies as Topic