[Validation of the PRIME-MD for the detection of generalized anxiety disorder]

The objectives of this study were first, to validate the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) as an instrument that identifies the generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in psychiatric consultations and second, to determine the frequency of GAD in two types of psychiatric consultation settings. To begin with, 1000 medical records of outpatients from the Psychiatry Department of the Hospital Vargas de Caracas were checked to determine the frequency of GAD diagnosis. Then, the PRIME-MD was validated with 100 outpatients from the Hospital Vargas de Caracas and 200 outpatients from private hospitals. The frequency of GAD diagnosis was 2.8% in the medical records checked. The prevalence of GAD in the 300 patients evaluated was 3.7%. The PRIME-MD showed 90.9% of sensitivity and 88.9% of specificity for the diagnosis of GAD. The global comorbidity of GAD was 36.6%. GAD was more frequent in patients between 40 and 49 years old, with a female/male rate of 2:1. Overall, the GAD frequency was lower than in other studies. The PRIME-MD proved to be a valid instrument to diagnose GAD in psychiatric outpatients.