title: Shortened questionnaires to assess anxiety and depression during in-hospital rehabilitation: clinical validation and cutoff scores.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A postacute phase needs reliable routine screening instruments in order to identify the patients to be referred for a clinical interview with a psychologist. The aim of this study was to estimate the clinical cutoff scores of the anxiety and depression questionnaires and their clinical validity using a gold standard.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study involved 177 patients with pulmonary, cardiac, or neurological disease undergoing in-hospital rehabilitation. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine the best concordance between questionnaire's scores and the gold standards.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant difference (P<0.001) between clinically anxious and depressed patients and nonclinical subjects. The receiver operating characteristic curve for anxiety indicated that the best area under the curve for State Anxiety Inventory is obtained with a cutoff point of 21 for males and 25 for females; for depression scores, the highest area under the curve for Depression Questionnaire-Reduced Form is obtained with a cutoff point of six for males and eight for females.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using appropriate cutoff values, the State Anxiety Inventory and Depression Questionnaire-Reduced Form allow psychologists to optimize early clinical intervention strategies selecting patients with significant needs.
authors: Psychology Unit, Salvatore Maugeri Foundation, IRCCS, Scientific Institute, Tradate.
authors: Giorgio
authors: G
authors: Bertolotti
authors: Psychology Unit, Salvatore Maugeri Foundation, IRCCS, Scientific Institute, Tradate.
authors: Loretta
authors: L
authors: Moroni
authors: Department of Human Sciences - University of Verona, Verona.
authors: Roberto
authors: R
authors: Burro
authors: Department of Cardiology.
authors: Antonio
authors: A
authors: Spanevello
authors: Division of Pulmonary Disease.
authors: Roberto Fe
authors: RF
authors: Pedretti
authors: Department of Neuromotor Rehabilitation, Salvatore Maugeri Foundation, IRCCS, Scientific Institute of Tradate, Italy.
authors: Giandomenico
authors: G
authors: Giorgetti
keywords: anxiety; depression; questionnaire; rehabilitation; sensitivity and specificity