GADANX is part of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale which can be used to screen and assess the severity of generalized anxiety disorder. The GAD also has moderate sensitivity when screening for panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Additional GAD questions that are included as part of the NHIS are:

Over the last two weeks, how often have you been bothered by...

• not being able to stop or control worrying? (GADWORCTRL)

• worrying too much about different things? (GADWORMUCH)

• trouble relaxing? (GADRELAX)

• being so restless that it's hard to sit still? (GADRSTLS)

• becoming easily annoyed or irritable? (GADANNOY)

• feeling afraid as if something awful might happen? (GADFEAR)

The NHIS offers a categorical summary measure, GADCAT, that is based on the summed responses to the above GAD variables. Users can also sum these variables themselves to create a total score that can be used for analysis and assessing severity of symptoms. For more information on how to calculate the total score for the GAD, please see GADCAT.

In 2023, NHIS combined GADANX and GADWORCTRL into a two-item scale (GADSCREEN) meant as a screener for further evaluation, not as a diagnostic.