Construction of the Lebanese Anxiety Scale (LAS-10): a new scale to assess anxiety in adult patients. (1st September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hallit, Souheil; Obeid, Sahar; Haddad, Chadia; Hallit, Rabih; Akel, Marwan; Haddad, Georges; Soufia, Michel; Khansa, Wael; Khoury, Rony; Kheir, Nelly; Abi Elias Hallit, Christiane; Sacre, Hala; Salameh, Pascale
• Is Part Of: International journal of psychiatry in clinical practice. Volume 24:Number 3(2020)
• Page Start: 270
• Page End: 277
• Publication Date: 2020-09-01
• Subjects: Anxiety -- screening -- Lebanon -- scale -- psychometrics; Mental illness -- Periodicals; Older people -- Mental health -- Periodicals; Psychiatry -- Periodicals; 616.89005
• DOI: 10.1080/13651501.2020.1744662
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1365-1501

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: The study objectives were (1) to create a new 10-item scale, the 'Lebanese Anxiety Scale' (LAS-10), inspired by the diagnostic criteria of DSM-5, and the HAM-A and STAI scales and (2) to evaluate the performance of this new scale on a sample of Lebanese individuals. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 1332 community dwelling participants between November 2017 and March 2018. Results: In sample 1, the participants' mean age was 28.08 years (63.9% females). The LAS items converged over a solution of two factors that had an Eigenvalue over 1, explaining a total of 51.97% of the variance (αCronbach =0.857). The optimal cut-off between healthy controls and anxious patients was 13.50 according to the ROC curve. The sensitivity and specificity were good at this cut-off (77.5% and 70.8%, respectively). The area under the curve was high: 0.811 [0.778–0.845]; p < .001. The positive predicted value of the LAS-10 score in sample 1 was 26.9%, whereas the negative predicted value was 95.2%. Conclusion: The results of the present study show that the LAS-10 is a tool that can be used in clinical practice and research to screen for anxiety. KEY POINTS: The positive predicted value of the LAS-10 score was 26.9%. Its negative predicted value was 95.2%. People with scores above 13.5 be referred to a health care professional for further assessment. The LAS-10 is a tool can be used in clinical practice and research to screen for anxiety. Future studies are needed to validate the LAS-10 in other countries.