Validation of the Patient-Rated Version of the Parkinson Anxiety Scale in Iranian People with Parkinson's Disease.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Patient-Rated Parkinson's Anxiety Scale (PAS-PR) in people with Parkinson's Disease (PwPD).

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, we assessed Persian-speaking PwPD using the PAS-PR. Psychometric evaluation included: exploratory factor analysis (EFA); internal consistency (Cronbach's α), test - retest reliability (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient); PAS-PR/observer-rated PAS (PAS-OR) agreement (Bland-Altman); and convergent validity against Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety (HADS-A), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21).

RESULTS

Among 191 PwPD (58% male, mean age 69.2 ± 4.6 years; Hoehn & Yahr stages 1-4: 36.7%, 42.4%, 18.3%, and 2.6%, respectively), EFA revealed the expected three-factor structure. The PAS-PR demonstrated excellent reliability (α = 0.88; ICC = 0.96) and strong agreement with PAS-OR (96.19%). Convergent validity was established through significant correlations with GAI, HADS-A, BAI and DASS-21 (r = 0.61-0.75).

CONCLUSIONS

The PAS-PR, with its acceptable psychometric properties, proves to be a valuable tool for assessing anxiety in the Persian-speaking PwPD.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The PAS-PR offers a practical, tailored tool for identifying diverse anxiety symptoms in Parkinson's patients, streamlining screening in clinical settings.