Handling missing items in the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS): a simulation study

BMC Research Notes

Table 1 Descriptive statistics for the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score (HADS), and correlation with quality of life (QoL) for 1444 Australian cancer patients and survivors

Item number	Item content	Number missing	% missing	Mean^a	Standard deviation	Correlation with total^b	Correlation with QoL^c
Anxiety subscale (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.87)				5.66	4.20		−0.687
1	I feel tense or wound up	26	1.8	0.87	0.77	0.69
3	I get a sort of frightened feeling, as if something awful is about to happen	26	1.8	0.86	0.83	0.70
5	Worrying thoughts go through my head	25	1.7	1.00		0.68
7	I can sit at ease and feel relaxed	24	1.7	0.92	0.77	0.62
9	I get a frightened feeling like butterflies in the stomach	31	2.1	0.56	0.73	0.60
11	I feel restless as if I have to be on the move	28	1.9	0.87	0.84	0.50
13	I get sudden feelings of panic	28	1.9	0.44	0.72	0.73
Depression subscale (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.84)				5.07	4.11		−0.767
2	I still enjoy things I used to enjoy	24	1.7	0.74	0.83	0.58
4	I can laugh and see the funny side of things	28	1.9	0.51	0.76	0.64
6	I feel cheerful	24	1.7	0.65	0.75	0.68
8	I feel as if I am slowed down	28	1.9	1.36	0.92	0.50
10	I have lost interest in my appearance	29	2.0	0.75	0.98	0.51
12	I look forward with enjoyment to things	28	1.9	0.66	0.84	0.71
14	I can enjoy a good book or radio or TV program	28	1.9	0.44	0.72	0.49
Distress total score (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.90)				10.74	7.60		−0.796

Higher values indicate higher anxiety or depression
^aPossible range of each item is 0–3; range for subscales is 0–21; range for distress is 0–42
^bCorrelation of item with total of remaining items in subscale
^cQoL is measured by the FACT-G

ISSN: 1756-0500