New Anxiety Screening Recommendations Released

New recommendations from the Women’s Preventive Services Initiative recommend screening of women and adolescent girls aged 13 years and older for anxiety disorders.

They developed the recommendation following an analysis of data from a systematic review on the effectiveness of screening, screening instruments, and benefits and harms of screening in adolescent girls and adult women.

Based on their analysis, the group recommended screening for anxiety in women and adolescent girls (including pregnant and postpartum women) aged 13 years and older who have not been diagnosed with anxiety disorders. Because optimal intervals for screening could not be established, they recommend that clinicians use their own judgement to determine how often to screen patients.

“Given the high prevalence of anxiety disorders, lack of recognition in clinical practice, and multiple problems associated with untreated anxiety, clinicians should consider screening women who have not been recently screened,” the authors wrote.

Screening methods that demonstrated moderate to high accuracy included the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale or adults, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale for pregnant and postpartum women, and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders for adolescents.

“Although routine screening for depression is currently a standard of care in clinical practice, no recommendation for anxiety screening has been issued by guideline groups,” they concluded.

“Because anxiety disorders can be successfully treated, early detection through the use of a brief questionnaire could prevent years of symptoms and impairment in the lives of women at every stage of life.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Gregory KD, Chelmow D, Nelson HD, et al. Screening for anxiety in adolescent and adult women: a recommendation from the Women's Preventive Services Initiative. Published online June 9, 2020. Ann Intern Med. Doi:10.7326/M20-0580