Prevalence of anxiety disorders among Finnish primary care high utilizers and validation of Finnish translation of GAD-7 and GAD-2 screening tools.

OBJECTIVE

To analyse the prevalence of GAD and other anxiety disorders, as well as sensitivity and specificity of GAD-7 among high utilizers of health care.

SETTING

Four municipal health centres in Northern Finland.

SUBJECTS: A psychiatric interview was conducted for 150 high utilizers of health care.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence of GAD as well as sensitivity and specificity of GAD-7.

RESULTS

The prevalence of GAD was 4% in this study group of Finnish high utilizers of health care. The sensitivity of GAD-7 was 100.0% (95% CI 54.1-100.0) and the specificity of GAD-7 was 82.6% (95% CI 75.4-88.4) with a cut-off point of 7 or more.

CONCLUSION

GAD is rather common among high utilizers of primary care, although the prevalence of 4% is lower than that previously reported. GAD-7 is a valid and useful tool for detecting GAD among primary health care patients.