[A validation study of the Spanish versions of the Clinical Anxiety Scale and the Physician Questionnaire for the assessment of anxiety disorders].

Background And Objective: To validate the Spanish versions of both the Clinical Anxiety Scale (CAS) and the Physician Questionnaire (PQ) to assess the severity of symptoms in patients with Anxiety Disorders (AD) treated in ambulatory psychiatric care facilities.

Patients And Method: Observational, prospective and multi-centre study (15 psychiatric facilities included) with a follow-up of 1 to 6 weeks in clinically stable or unstable AD patients. We assessed their convergent validity (with the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale as reference), discriminant validity (as compared with the Clinical Global Impression), reliability (internal consistency, test-retest and inter-raters) and sensitivity to change.

Results: One hundred and sixty one AD patients were included (48 stable and 133 unstable patients). Both the CAS and the PQ showed appropriate convergent (r >= 0.70) and discriminant validity (p 0.001), internal consistency (Cronbach's a > 0.75), test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] > 0,90), inter-raters reliability (ICC > 0.90) and sensitivity to change (p < 0.0001; effect size >= 1.5).

Conclusions: The Spanish versions of both rating scales show appropriate validity and reliability and thus can be used to assess the severity of anxiety symptoms and their change in AD patients treated in ambulatory care.