• Vincent Ducoulombier, Roman Chiquet, Sahara Graf, Bernard Leroy, Guillaume Bouquet, Stéphane Verdun, Fabienne Martellier, Adeline Versavel, Alexandre Kone, Karine Lacroix, Didier Duthoit, Quentin Lenglet, Amelie Devaux, Robert Jeanson, Antoine Lefebvre, Benoit Coviaux, Gauthier Calais, Adeline Grimbert, Marie Ledein, Marie Moukagni, Tristan Pascart, and Eric Houvenagel.
• Department of Rheumatology, Saint-Philibert Catholic Hospital, University of Lille, Lomme, France. Electronic address: Ducoulombier.vincent@ghicl.net.
• Pain Manag Nurs. 2020 Dec 1; 21 (6): 572-578.

BackgroundAnxiety is common in hospitalized patients and can worsen pain or lead to unsuccessful pain relief.AimsThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of measuring anxiety with a visual analog scale (VAS) in the hospitalized patient experiencing pain.DesignWe conducted a multiple-center cross-sectional study.Participants/SubjectsAdult inpatients experiencing moderate to severe pain defined by a pain VAS score ≥40 of 100 were included.MethodsPain and anxiety data were collected using the following instruments: pain VAS, anxiety VAS, State Anxiety Scale of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-YA) and Anxiety Subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD-A).ResultsData were collected from 394 patients. Of those patients, 43.6% (171 of 392) and 36.6% (143 of 391) had significant anxiety according to STAI-Ya and HAD-A, respectively. Correlation was good between anxiety-VAS and STAI-YA (ρ = 0.67 [95% confidence interval 0.61-0.72]) and moderate between anxiety VAS and HAD-D (ρ = 0.48 [0.39-0.56]). The main factor predictive of situational anxiety was history of anxiety-depression symptoms (odds ratio = 2.95 [1.93-4.56]). For anxiety VAS score ≥ 40 of 100, the sensitivity for detecting anxiety was 81% with 70% specificity.ConclusionThis study confirmed the high prevalence of anxiety among inpatients experiencing pain, demonstrated the capacity of a VAS to assess this anxiety, determined an anxiety VAS cutoff level to screen for significant anxiety, and identified risk factors of anxiety in this population. Anxiety VAS has been found to be an easy-to-use method familiar to caregivers, with all the advantages needed for an effective screening instrument. An anxiety VAS score ≥40 of 100 would thus warrant particular attention to adapt care to the patient's anxiety-related pain and initiate specific therapeutic interventions.Copyright © 2020 American Society for Pain Management Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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