TY - JOUR
T1 - The lifetime prevalence and impact of generalized anxiety disorders in an epidemiologic Italian National Survey carried out by clinicians by means of semi-structured interviews
AU - Preti, Antonio
AU - Demontis, Roberto
AU - Cossu, Giulia
AU - Kalcev, Goce
AU - Cabras, Federico
AU - Moro, Maria Francesca
AU - Romano, Ferdinando
AU - Balestrieri, Matteo
AU - Caraci, Filippo
AU - Dell’Osso, Liliana
AU - Di Sciascio, Guido
AU - Drago, Filippo
AU - Hardoy, Maria Carolina
AU - Roncone, Rita
AU - Faravelli, Carlo
AU - Gonzalez, Cesar Ivan Aviles
AU - Angermayer, Matthias
AU - Carta, Mauro Giovanni
N1 - Funding Information:
None.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Background: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most reported diagnoses in psychiatry, but there is some discrepancy between the cases identified in community studies and those identified in tertiary care. This study set out to evaluate whether the use of clinicians as interviewers may provide estimates in a community survey close to those observed in primary or specialized care. Methods: This is a community survey on a randomly selected sample of 2338 adult subjects. The Advanced Neuropsychiatric Tools and Assessment Schedule (ANTAS) was administered by clinicians, providing lifetime diagnosis based on the DSM-IV-TR. Health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) was measured with the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12). Results: Overall, 55 (2.3%) subjects met the criteria for GAD, with greater prevalence in women (3.6%) than in men (0.9%): OR = 4.02; 95%CI: 1.96–8.26. Up to 40% of those with GAD had at least another diagnosis of mood, anxiety, or eating disorders. The mean score of SF-12 in people with GAD was 32.33 ± 6.8, with a higher attributable burden than in other conditions except for major depressive disorder. Conclusions: We found a relatively lower lifetime prevalence of GAD than in community surveys based on lay interviewers and a structured interview. The identified cases of GAD showed a strong impact on the quality of life regardless of co-morbidity and high risk in women, suggesting a profile similar to the one identified from studies in primary and specialized care.
AB - Background: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most reported diagnoses in psychiatry, but there is some discrepancy between the cases identified in community studies and those identified in tertiary care. This study set out to evaluate whether the use of clinicians as interviewers may provide estimates in a community survey close to those observed in primary or specialized care. Methods: This is a community survey on a randomly selected sample of 2338 adult subjects. The Advanced Neuropsychiatric Tools and Assessment Schedule (ANTAS) was administered by clinicians, providing lifetime diagnosis based on the DSM-IV-TR. Health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) was measured with the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12). Results: Overall, 55 (2.3%) subjects met the criteria for GAD, with greater prevalence in women (3.6%) than in men (0.9%): OR = 4.02; 95%CI: 1.96–8.26. Up to 40% of those with GAD had at least another diagnosis of mood, anxiety, or eating disorders. The mean score of SF-12 in people with GAD was 32.33 ± 6.8, with a higher attributable burden than in other conditions except for major depressive disorder. Conclusions: We found a relatively lower lifetime prevalence of GAD than in community surveys based on lay interviewers and a structured interview. The identified cases of GAD showed a strong impact on the quality of life regardless of co-morbidity and high risk in women, suggesting a profile similar to the one identified from studies in primary and specialized care.
KW - Community survey
KW - Comorbidity
KW - Epidemiology
KW - Generalized anxiety disorder
KW - Quality of life
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U2 - 10.1186/s12888-021-03042-3
DO - 10.1186/s12888-021-03042-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 33472585
AN - SCOPUS:85099664139
VL - 21
JO - BMC Psychiatry
JF - BMC Psychiatry
SN - 1471-244X
IS - 1
M1 - 48
ER -