Background and aims: Among older adults, the prevalence of anxiety disorders is 5 – 10 %, and one third report anxiety symptoms. Assessment of anxiety in older adults is complicated by age-related differences in anxiety symptoms, high rates of medical and psychiatric comorbidities, and cognitive impairment. The Geriatric Anxiety Scale – 10 item (GAS-10) is a self-rating scale designed to capture anxiety specifically in older adults, with items reflecting affective-, cognitive- and somatic anxiety symptoms. The aim of this study was to make an initial evaluation of the reliability and concurrent validity of the Swedish version of the GAS-10.
Methods: The GAS-10 was translated and adapted to Swedish using a translation and back-translation procedure. The final version was reviewed by an expert panel of researchers and clinicians. Seventy-two community-dwelling participants 65 years or older (range 65 – 92 years) then completed the GAS-10 and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Reliability of the GAS-10 was measured with Cronbach’s alpha, and concurrent validity was measured using Spearman’s rank correlation between the GAS-10 and the HADS anxiety (HADS-A) and depression (HADS-D) subscales.
Results: Reliability was excellent (.88). Statistically significant moderate correlations were found between the GAS-10 and HADS-A (rs = .653, p = < .001) and HADS-D (rs = .527, p = < .001).
Conclusions: This pilot study suggests that the Swedish GAS-10 has acceptable reliability as well as acceptable concurrent validity compared to the HADS-A. Further full-scaled psychometric studies are needed as well as studies evaluating the diagnostic accuracy in clinical populations.