• Katherine Webber and Andrew N Davies.
• Royal Marsden NHS Hospitals Trust, London and Surrey, United Kingdom. kath.webber@rmh.nhs.uk
• J Pain Symptom Manage. 2011 Nov 1; 42 (5): 761-7.

ContextThe Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale-Short Form (MSAS-SF) is designed to evaluate physical and psychological symptom burden in advanced cancer patients. There are no current data assessing the validity of the MSAS-SF psychological symptom scores when compared with anxiety and depression.ObjectivesThis observational cross-sectional study was designed to determine the relationship between the MSAS-SF subscales and the presence of anxiety and depression.MethodsAdvanced cancer patients attending a U.K. oncology center completed the MSAS-SF and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.ResultsOne hundred twenty patients participated in the study. There was an association between the presence of anxiety and depression and the MSAS-SF global distress index. There was no association between the presence of anxiety and depression and the MSAS-SF physical symptom subscale. The MSAS-SF psychological symptom subscale was more closely correlated with anxiety than depression.ConclusionThese results support the validity of the MSAS-SF global distress index and psychological subscales in the assessment of patients with anxiety and depressive disorders.Copyright © 2011 U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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