A study of the validity and the reliability of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory in screening for anxiety after stroke in older inpatients

Objectives: To investigate the validity and reliability of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory in screening for anxiety in older inpatients post-stroke.

Design: Longitudinal.

Subjects: A total of 81 inpatients with stroke aged 65 years or older were recruited at four centres in England.

Main measures: At phase 1 the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were administered and then the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition (phase 2). The Geriatric Anxiety Inventory was repeated a median of seven days later (phase 3).

Results: Internal reliability of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory was high (α = 0.95) and test-retest reliability acceptable (τB = 0.53). Construct validity was evident relative to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - Anxiety subscale (τB = 0.61). At a cut off of 6/7, sensitivity of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory was 0.88, specificity 0.84, with respect to the Structured Clinical Interview anxiety diagnosis. Hospital Anxiety and Depressions Scale - Anxiety subscale sensitivity was 0.88, specificity 0.54 at the optimum cut off of 5/6. A comparison of the areas under the curve of the Receiver Operating Characteristics for the two instruments indicated that the area under the curve of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory was significantly larger than that of the Hospital Anxiety and Depressions Scale - Anxiety subscale, supporting its superiority.

Conclusions: The Geriatric Anxiety Inventory is an internally consistent, reliable (stable) and valid instrument with acceptable sensitivity and specificity to screen for anxiety in older inpatients with stroke.