The validation of the visual screening tool for anxiety disorders and depression in hypertension and/or diabetes

BACKGROUND: Depression and anxiety disorders remain poorly detected at primary health care, particularly in patients with hypertension and/or diabetes. A visual screening tool for anxiety disorders and depression (VISTAD) has been developed, but not validated. AIM: To validate the VISTAD in primary health care participants diagnosed with hypertension and/or diabetes. SETTING: Participants were recruited from five primary health care centres in the Eastern Cape, South Africa (urban, peri-urban and rural). METHODS: The study used a cross-sectional study design to validate the VISTAD. The VISTAD was validated against the International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I) using field testing. A demographic questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-economic variables. RESULTS: Sixty-nine (87%) females and 10 (13%) males with a mean age of 49 (SD 8.6844) participated in the study. Fifty black people (63%), 16 mixed race people (20%) and 13 white people (16%) participated in the study. The majority of the participants (77%) did not complete high school. The area under curve score (AUC) for the VISTAD in screening for depression was 0.91, and for anxiety disorders, 0.87 post-traumatic stress disorder, 0.87 panic disorder, 0.85 social phobia, 0.88 agoraphobia, and 0.83 generalised anxiety disorder revealing acceptable psychometric properties. CONCLUSION: The use of the VISTAD as a screening tool at primary health care in people living with hypertension and/or diabetes is recommended. The VISTAD could, therefore, play a key role in the prevention and early treatment of individuals diagnosed with hypertension and/or diabetes across cultures and levels of education. The VISTAD needs to be validated in a large population representative of primary care patients diagnosed with hypertension and/or diabetes.