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From the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Section in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

Address correspondence to Karl Rickels, MD, 3535 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3309. E-mail: krickels{at}mail.med.upenn.edu

Context: Standard questionnaires (eg, Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders [PRIME-MD], Hopkins Symptom Checklist [HSCL]) can be used to assess anxiety and depression in patients. However, such survey tools are typically lengthy and are therefore not used often in primary care.

Objective: To determine the value of a four-item anxiety and depression screening questionnaire as a diagnostic assessment tool in family practice.

Methods: Two self-administered patient questionnaires—PRIME-MD and 25-item HSCL—were provided to a random sample of adult patients at three family practices in Philadelphia, Pa. A subset of patients who endorsed at least one of four anxiety and depression stem items in the PRIME-MD questionnaire were interviewed using the PRIME-MD clinician evaluation guide. The HSCL anxiety and depression clusters were used as the standard measures of emotional symptomatology. Sensitivity and specificity for the four stem items to detect evidence of anxiety or mood disorders were established using the structured interview as the diagnostic gold standard.

Results: A total of 211 patients participated in the present study. Lowest levels of emotional symptomatology were seen in patients who did not endorse any of the stem items, while highest levels were seen in patients who endorsed anxiety and depression items. Findings were statistically significant (P<.0001). Endorsement of at least three of the four stem items differentiated best between patients with and without an anxiety or mood disorder (P<.001), achieving high sensitivity (78%) and specificity (95%).

Conclusion: A four-item screening tool based on PRIME-MD anxiety and depression stem questions can alert family physicians to potential anxious or depressive symptomatology in the patient and the need for continued evaluation and possible treatment.