The Worry Anxiety Questionnaire as a screening tool for generalized anxiety disorder: Diagnostic properties

In this paper, we present the diagnostic capacity of the Worry and Anxiety Questionnaire (WAQ) in the Spanish version, which evaluates the criteria of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) according to DSM-5 (APA, 2013). The ROC curves were performed to know the diagnostic accuracy of the WAQ and logistic regression, to analyze the classification of each of the items that comprise it. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of 94 people with no disorder and 33 individuals with generalized anxiety disorder, aged between 19 and 66 years, along with other GAD measurement tests. The results suggest a cut point above 56, which provide an adequate balance between sensitivity (86.7%) and specificity (89.4%). These results support the diagnostic utility of WAQ as a screening tool for the early detection of GAD in community, primary and secondary care contexts. The results are discussed taking into account the divergences of the work reviewed and the recommendations of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the use of ultra-short tests as screening tools.