title: Never too late to be anxious: validation of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory, Italian version.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this work was to validate the Italian version of GAI (GAI-It) and its short form (GAI-It SF) in an over 65-population.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 3 recruitment areas across Italy, two raters reciprocally blind to results assessed eligible subjects; a semi-structured diagnostic clinical interview was performed by a psychiatrist.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 76 enrolled subjects (mean age 72.7±6.8 years), anxiety symptoms were very common: 69.7% (moderate/ severe HADS-Anxiety), 76.3% (moderate/severe STAI-state), 71.0% (moderate/severe STAI-trait), 61.8% (GAI), 55.3% (GAI-SF). Sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value of GAI confirmed a good reliability of the Italian version, with Cronbach's Alpha equal to 0.93 for GAI-It and to 0.77 for GAI-It SF, indicating a very good and good construct validity, respectively, of the scales. The Pearson correlation index demonstrated a moderately positive correlation among GAI, GAI-SF and STAI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data confirm the validity of GAI-It as a valuable instrument to assess anxiety in an elderly population, for clinical and research purposes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic-Clinical Medicine and Public Health, University of Modena & Reggio Emilia, Modena.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Catania.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Signorelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cerrato
authors.affiliation: Human Resources Department, Local Health Agency of Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pingani
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Catania.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Massimino
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Valente
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Forlani
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic-Clinical Medicine and Public Health, University of Modena & Reggio Emilia, Modena.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bonasegla
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Catania.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arcidiacono
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Ronchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic-Clinical Medicine and Public Health, University of Modena & Reggio Emilia, Modena.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rigatelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Catania.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aguglia
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Atti
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: Anxiety; Consultation-liaison psychiatry; Old age; Psychogeriatrics; Screening; Validity