Development of an indigenous screening instrument in Pakistan: the Aga Khan University Anxiety and Depression Scale

The use of translations of instruments for detecting anxiety and depression continues to be debated. An indigenous screening instrument has been developed in Urdu for anxiety-depression syndromes at the Aga Khan University. It has been developed from the complaints of 150 anxious and depressed patients presenting to a non-speciality clinic and has been validated in 53 patients in a psychiatry clinic. The questionnaire has 25 items, 13 psychlogical and 12 somatic. At a score of 20 it has a sensitivity of 66%, a specificity of 79%, a positive predictive value of 83 and a negative predictive value of 60. In comparison with available instruments in Urdu, comprising of either psychological or somatic items, this scale includes both, which increases its reliability for use as a screening instrument by Community Health Workers in a primary health care setting, in epidemiologic work in Pakistan and in transcultural psychiatric research.