Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale

The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale or HADS is a questionnaire used to screen medically ill patients for anxiety and depression, and was designed to exclude physical symptoms that could possibly be caused by medical illness. It consists of 14 questions, seven for anxiety and 7 for depression. It does not contain all the necessary questions to make a firm diagnosis of anxiety or depression because it does not include questions about sleep, self-harm and suicidality are needed.

ME/CFS
The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale has been validated in many different patient populations, including cancer patients, and in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Morriss & Wearden (1998) found a cut-off of 9/10 useful for anxiety or depression in the HADS scale when compared with a clinical interview, however this was based on the broad Oxford criteria of CFS, which may include patients with other forms of unexplained chronic fatigue.

HADS in research
HADS is sometimes used in research studies to approximate levels is anxiety or depression in patients who are physically ill. It has been heavily used by British paediatrician Esther Crawley.

Evidence

 * 1998, Screening instruments for psychiatric morbidity in chronic fatigue syndrome, (Full text)
 * 2012, The validity of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale: An updated literature review (Abstract)
 * 2014, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (Abstract)

Learn more

 * Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale ( View)