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Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine logoLink to Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
. 1988 Sep;81(9):517–519. doi: 10.1177/014107688808100907

The measurement of preoperative anxiety.

J A Hicks 1, J G Jenkins 1
PMCID: PMC1291760  PMID: 3184108

Abstract

Preoperative anxiety was assessed using the hospital anxiety and depression (HAD) scale, multiple affect adjective check list (MAACL) and linear analogue anxiety scale (LAAS) in 100 consecutive day case patients undergoing termination of pregnancy. The HAD scale, a recently introduced self assessment scale comprising 7 multiple choice questions, was readily accepted and easily understood by patients. There was a high degree of correlation between the HAD scale and both the MAACL (correlation coefficient 0.74) and the LAAS (correlation coefficient 0.67). There was only a moderate degree of correlation between the HAD scale and the anaesthetist's assessment of anxiety (correlation coefficient 0.46). The HAD scale is a useful method of subjective measurement of preoperative anxiety.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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