Portuguese Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS): Usefulness in Focal Epilepsy

Objective: To explore the usefulness of the Portuguese HADS for outpatients with focal epilepsy. Methods: Ninety-nine outpatients were assessed using a socio-demographic and clinical questionnaire, the MHI-5, and the HADS (individual interview). Results: HADS proved to be understandable and well accepted by patients, with alpha ranges from 0.72 to 0.82. It also correlated with MHI-5 and some demographic and clinical variables. Conclusions: The results support the use of the Portuguese HADS as a screening tool for these patients (facial validity; internal consistency; construct validity), though the associations between HADS scores and some demographic and clinical variables question its validity. The results underscore the importance of assessing patient affective status, as anxiety and depression are common and provide additional insight into the association of anxiety/depression with certain demographic and clinical variables. The reasons for the inconsistencies between these results and published literature should be explored in future studies.