Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale

The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) is a 14-item self-report scale that was developed originally to indicate the possible presence of anxiety and depressive states in the setting of medical outpatients between 16 and 65 years (Zigmond and Snaith, 1983). The HADS is widely utilized in clinical trials of treatment of comorbid depression and/or anxiety symptoms in somatic disorders (stroke, cardiac disease, cancer, etc.). 

Zigmond, A.S., Snaith, R.P. The hospital anxiety and depression scale. Acta Psvckiatr. Scand. 67, 361-370, 1983. 

Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS Zigmond and Snaith, 1983) and safety, monitored by evaluation of vital signs, laboratory and EKG assessments pre- and posttreatment, medications side-effects, and withdrawal symptoms, were conducted. Improvement was observed with both treatments, but no differences were found in the principal analysis. Post-hoc analyses revealed significant differences based on the severity of baseline anxiety, whereby kava was superior on the SARA in low anxiety and placebo was superior on the HADS and SARA in high anxiety. The treatments were well tolerated and there was no evidence of withdrawal or sexual side-effects. The authors concluded that although kava was not superior to placebo in this trial, it would be premature to rule it out as a possible treatment for GAD. 

Zigmond, A.S. and Snaith, R.P. (1983) The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Aaa Psychiat-rica Scandinavica, 67, 361—370. 

The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The HADS was developed by Zigmond and Snaith in 1983 (20) as a self-administered questionnaire with subscales for... 

There are numerous accounts of anecdotal evidence supporting the use of St. John s wort for premenstrual syndrome (PMS) (36). One open, uncontrolled study was conducted to determine the efficacy of St. John s wort in treating PMS. The primary outcome was measured by a daily symptom checklist of 17 symptoms rated on a scale of 0 to 4 based on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale and modified Social Adjustment Scale (SAS-M) broken down into four subscales mood, behavior, pain, and physical. A total of 25 women were selected to participate in the study in which they received 300 mg hypericum standardized to 900 p.g hypericin daily. The results from the daily symptoms survey after the first cycle show a statistically significant reduction from the baseline value of 128.42 to 70.11. After the second cycle, there was a further reduction to 42.74. Of the four subscales, St. John s wort had the greatest improvement on the mood subscale (57%) and the least improvement on the physical subscale (35%). Of the individual symptoms, crying (92%) and depression (85%) were improved the most with treatment, and food cravings and headaches were improved the least (36). 

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