Introduction: Depressive symptomatology is a major mental health problem in cancer patients. The Beck Anxiety Scale (BAI) has proven to be a reliable and valid instrument. However, until now has not been documented it's psychometric properties in Mexican population with cancer.Objetives: Determine the psychometric properties of the Beck Anxiety Scale BAI in a sample of cancer patients. Material and methods: Involved 250 patients from the National Cancer Institute, of which 112 were women (55.2%) were male and 138 (44.82%); the average age was 46.6 ± 14.3 years. Participants answered the BAI, and also the Anxiety Sub-scale of HADS.Results: A varimax factor analysis with 21 items show a structure of 4 factors: Subjective, Neurophysiological, Autonomic and vasomotor symptoms that explain 46.38% of the variance. The internal consistency of the overall scale was satisfactory (α=0.82). The validity through correlations with the HADS-A showed significant associations (Pearson r=0.58, p <0.05) and ECOG (Pearson -0.36, p <0.05).Conclusions: The BAI in Mexican population with cancer showed adequate psychometric characteristics. Detection of anxiety symp toms through BAI provides benefits to the cancer population and facilitates the development of adequate and cost-effective care strategies.