ArticlePloS one2025
Screening for anxiety in patients with cancer: Diagnostic accuracy of GAD-7 items considering lowered GAD-7 cut-offs.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effectiveness of Digital Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (dCBT) for Co-Occurring Anxiety, Depression and Chronic Pain in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2026Pooled it
- Delivering prehabilitation in cancer surgery: a service evaluation at Nottingham University Hospitals.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Observational
- Expert Consensus on Self-Reported Physical, Nutritional, and Psychological Screening Tools for Prehabilitation in Gastrointestinal Cancer Surgery: An International Delphi Study.Annals of surgical oncology · 2026Article
- Psychological Screening and Support for Patients Enrolled in Early-Phase Cancer Clinical Trials and the Possible Barriers: A Real-World Tertiary Center Implementation Study.Psycho-oncology · 2026Article
- Standing the test of time: diagnostic accuracy of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System-Revised (ESAS-r) for anxiety and depression screening.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Sexualized drug use, anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation among men who have sex with men in Pakistan: Results of a multi-center cross-sectional survey.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Psycho-Oncology in Breast Cancer: Supporting Women Through Distress, Treatment, and Recovery-Three Arguments-Rapid Narrative Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Review
- Living Well With Uncertainty in Advanced, Metastatic or Incurable Cancers: A Pragmatic Feasibility Study of the Adapting to Life With Cancer Cognitive ExisteNtial Therapy (ACCENT).Psycho-oncology · 2025Article
- A feasibility study of distress screening with psychometric evaluation and referral of cancer patients.Scientific reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA standard questionnaire for generalized anxiety disorders is the GAD-7. Attempts to improve its screening capacity in oncological settings resulted in a discussion about lowering its cut-off. This study examines the diagnostic accuracy of the GAD-7 items depending on applied cut-offs and whether, similar to depressive symptoms, a distinction between somatic-emotional and cognitive items might be relevant. PATIENTS AND
methodsScreening data from 4705 patients with cancer who were treated at the outpatient clinic of the National Centre for Tumour Diseases in Heidelberg were analysed. For the individual GAD-7 items sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and Clinical Utility Index were determined for cut-off ≥ 7, ≥ 8, ≥ 10 and ≥ 15 in the GAD-7 questionnaire.
resultsThe best overall diagnostic accuracy was found for a cut-off ≥ 8. The cognitive items had the best diagnostic accuracy for identifying severe GAD (cut-off ≥ 15), and the somatic-emotional items had the best diagnostic accuracy for identifying mild to moderate GAD (cut-off ≥ 7, ≥ 8 and ≥ 10).
conclusionsOur data support the recommendation of lowering the GAD-7 cut-off in oncology settings and suggest that in anxiety disorders, a symptom overlap between the physical illness and a possible mental disorder should be considered.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.