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Objective: Anxiety disorders (ANDI) commonly occur in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) but their socio-demographic and clinical correlates have not yet been unequivocally determined. This study aimed to assess the frequency of ANDI and their correlates in Chinese PD patients. Methods: A cohort of 133 patients of PD were recruited from three neurology outpatient clinics. Participants' neurological, cognitive, and psychiatric status was assessed using standardized rating instruments. ANDI were diagnosed by qualified psychiatrists using the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders--4th Edition (SCID-DSM IV). Results: Thirty-six patients (27.1%) were diagnosed with some types of ANDI; Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Agoraphobia, and Social Phobia were the commonest subtypes of ANDI in PD (n = 11, 8.3%, in each of the three subtypes). Nine patients had more than one subtype of ANDI. In multivariate logistic regression, younger age of onset of PD [odds ratio (OR) =2.654, 95% confident intervals (CI) = 1.120-6.289, p = 0.027), Geriatric Depression Scale score (OR = 1.179, 95% CI = 1.056-1.316, p = 0.003) and muscle cramps (>/= 1/week) (OR = 2.605, 95% CI = 1.098-6.184, p = 0.030) were independent correlates of ANDI. Conclusions: ANDI are common in Chinese PD patients. Younger age of onset of PD, severity of depressive symptoms, and muscle cramps may be independent correlates of ANDI suggesting that anxiety in PD has multifactorial origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine which screening instrument is most suitable for detecting depression in Chinese stroke patients. Method: A random sample of 60 Chinese subjects recruited from consecutively admitted patients with first-ever stroke to a rehabilitation facility were assessed using the Visual Analogue Mood Scale (VAMS), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Psychiatric diagnoses, which served as a benchmark for the comparison of screening instruments, were made using the SCID-DSM-III-R. Rating instruments were compared with respect to response rate, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: The VAMS was not useful in screening for depression in Chinese stroke patients while both the HADS and the GDS demonstrated satisfactory accuracy in detecting depression in Chinese stroke patients. Conclusions: Screening instruments for poststroke depression are culture-specific and even scales well established in other cultures should be tested before being used in clinical practice and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]