New article published: Evin et al, 2025

Congratulations to Dr. Evin and his colleagues on the publication of their article on anxiety assessment in palliative care in the journal BMC Palliative Care. We are delighted to have been able to contribute to the success of this article!

Anxiety is a 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐨𝐦 in palliative care, and its severity is often underestimated by healthcare professionals. Anxiety can be measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-State scale, which is 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 to complete, as well as 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 (VASs) and 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 (NRSs). The aim of this article was to study the 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬 for measuring anxiety in patients hospitalized in palliative care.

Of the 186 patients who participated, 24% suffered from severe or very severe anxiety. The correlation between the 𝐍𝐑𝐒 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞-𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐱𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲-𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝟎.𝟔𝟐, and that between the 𝐕𝐀𝐒 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞-𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐱𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲-𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝟎.𝟕𝟎. Thresholds were determined for the 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞/𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐱𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲: 5 for the NRS (sensitivity: 89.5% and specificity: 60.1%) and 49 mm for the VAS (sensitivity: 89.2% and specificity: 70.3%).

As the V𝐀𝐒 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐑𝐒 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-State scale), they are a good first-line solution for detecting patients with severe or very severe anxiety. The article is available on the journal's website! Doi: 𝟏𝟎.𝟏𝟏𝟖𝟔/𝐬𝟏𝟐𝟗𝟎𝟒-𝟎𝟐𝟓-𝟎𝟏𝟖𝟏𝟒-𝟐.