title: The panic disorder screener (PADIS): Development of an accurate and brief population screening tool.
abstract: The Panic Disorder Screener (PADIS) was developed as a new screener to identify panic disorder in the community and to assess severity of symptoms. The PADIS was developed to fill a gap in existing screening measures, as there are no brief panic screeners available that assess severity. The current study aimed to test the performance of the screener relative to the Patient Health Questionnaire-panic scale (PHQ-panic). The 4-item PADIS was administered to 12,336 young Australian adults, together with the PHQ-panic. A subsample of 1674 participants also completed a phone-based clinical interview to determine whether they met DSM-IV criteria for panic disorder. The PADIS (77% sensitivity, 84% specificity) had higher sensitivity for identifying panic disorder based on clinical criteria than the PHQ-panic (57% sensitivity, 91% specificity), although with reduced specificity. Administration of the PADIS required a mean of 1.9 items, compared to 4.7 items for the PHQ-panic. Each one-point increase in PADIS score was associated with 69% increased odds of meeting clinical criteria for panic disorder. The PADIS was found to be a valid, reliable and brief panic screener that is freely available for use in research and clinical settings.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Mental Health Research, Research School of Population Health, The Australian National University, 63 Eggleston Road, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia. Electronic address: philip.batterham@anu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Philip J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Batterham
authors.affiliation: Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Mackinnon
authors.affiliation: Black Dog Institute, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Christensen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anxiety; Measurement; Panic disorder; Panic symptoms; Sensitivity; Specificity