[Validation of the Panic Attack Symptoms Scale]

The ESAP is a self-rating scale based on the panic attack with 0 to 3 scoring and the total score is obtained by adding the 14 scores- the highest score thus being 42. Forty patients were included for the study, and the were assessed at their first visit, after one week and after one month in the treatment.

The items at the first basal assessment followed a normal distribution (Test Shapiro-Wilk w: 0.97, p< 0.57). The mean score was 18.5 with a SD of 7.43. The scale's internal consistency was measured by Cronbach's alpha, which was 0.66 at the first visit, 0.60 at the second one and 0.90 at the third one. Test-retest reliability was good in most cases, with values greater than 0.7 (p< 0.001). The correlation between the first visit total score and the second one was 0.89 (p< 0.001). The correlation with other scales (concurrent validity was highly significant with Hamilton's anxiety scale, total PASS and most of the PASS sub-scales (unexpected panic, limited and anticipatory anxiety) and slightly significant with the number of crises in past month. Four factors accounting for 65% of variance were identified in the factor analysis.