Congenital heart diseaseDiagnostic or prognostic study
Validation of a Briefer Anxiety Screening Tool for Use in Pediatric Cardiology Clinics
- Validation study
- concurrent validity
Authors' conclusion
PROMIS-Anx scores correlate with SCARED across the range of scores, particularly when completed by the child. Routine screening for anxiety in cardiology clinic, with a brief tool such as PROMIS-Anx, can promote earlier identification and treatment of anxiety in children with PHD.
Study context
- Population
- Children aged 7.5 to <18 years with pediatric heart disease (PHD) and their caregivers, seen at cardiology clinic visits between January 2020 and August 2022
- Participants
- 144 child/caregiver pairs
- Comparison
- concurrent validity of a briefer tool, Pediatric-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Pediatric Anxiety (PROMIS-Anx), relative to Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in children with PHD
Performance
As reported in the abstract
Anxiety present by SCARED
Children with anxiety by SCARED
36.0%
Further findings
Associations of SCARED and PROMIS-Anx scores
- Higher in females, adolescents, and those with known behavioral health disorders
- Not associated with cardiac disease severity, race, or ethnicity
Correlation of SCARED and PROMIS-Anx scores
- Children rs
- 0.76
- Children P
- P < 0.001
- Caregivers rs
- 0.58
- Caregivers P
- P < 0.001
- Spearman correlation coefficient
PROMIS-Anx cut point for significant anxiety symptoms based on SCARED
- PROMIS-Anx threshold
- >30
- Youden index
Original publication
Validation of a Briefer Anxiety Screening Tool for Use in Pediatric Cardiology Clinics. JACC Adv. Published 4 June 2026. doi:10.1016/j.jacadv.2026.102858
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it