GAD-7 is used to screen for which condition?

• A. Anxiety screening
• B. Depression screening
• C. Alcohol screening
• D. Cardiac risk assessment

Answer: (A)

GAD-7 is a brief self-report tool used to screen for anxiety disorders. It asks about seven anxiety-related symptoms experienced over the past two weeks and uses a 0–3 scale for each item, giving a total score that helps gauge how severe the anxiety is. This tool is designed to flag individuals who may have generalized anxiety disorder or related anxiety conditions and who should receive a more thorough clinical evaluation. It focuses on anxious thoughts and worry rather than depressive symptoms, so it’s not the right instrument for depression screening (that would be a questionnaire like the PHQ-9). It also isn’t used for alcohol screening or for assessing cardiac risk, which rely on entirely different questionnaires or risk calculators. So the best choice is anxiety screening.