Screening HIV-Infected Patients with Chronic Pain for Anxiety and Mood Disorders with the Beck Anxiety and Depression Inventory-Fast Screens for Medical Settings

The Beck Anxiety (BAI-FS) and Depression (BDI-FS) Inventory-Fast Screens for Medical Settings were administered to 63 HIV-infected outpatients seeking treatment at a chronic pain clinic to evaluate how effectively these 7-item instruments would, respectively, differentiate those who were and were not diagnosed with DSM-IV anxiety, mood, or both disorders. The Anxiety and Mood Modules from the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) were employed to establish the diagnoses. The coefficient α's for the BAI- and BDI-FS were, respectively, .80 and .84. A BAI-FS cut-off score of 4 and above yielded 82% sensitivity and 59% specificity rates for identifying patients with and without anxiety disorders, whereas a BDI-FS cut-off score of 4 and above had 90% sensitivity and 74% specificity rates for detecting patients with and without mood disorders. It was concluded that the BDI-FS was a useful instrument for screening HIV-infected patients with chronic pain for mood disorders.