Anxiety disorders in primary care: prevalence, impairment, comorbidity, and detection
- PMID: 17339617
- DOI: 10.7326/0003-4819-146-5-200703060-00004
Anxiety disorders in primary care: prevalence, impairment, comorbidity, and detection
Abstract
Background: Anxiety, although as common as depression, has received less attention and is often undetected and undertreated.
Objective: To determine the current prevalence, impairment, and comorbidity of anxiety disorders in primary care and to evaluate a brief measure for detecting these disorders.
Design: Criterion-standard study performed between November 2004 and June 2005.
Setting: 15 U.S. primary care clinics.
Participants: 965 randomly sampled patients from consecutive clinic patients who completed a self-report questionnaire and agreed to a follow-up telephone interview.
Measurements: 7-item anxiety measure (Generalized Anxiety Disorder [GAD]-7 scale) in the clinic, followed by a telephone-administered, structured psychiatric interview by a mental health professional who was blinded to the GAD-7 results. Functional status (Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-20), depressive and somatic symptoms, and self-reported disability days and physician visits were also assessed.
Results: Of the 965 patients, 19.5% (95% CI, 17.0% to 22.1%) had at least 1 anxiety disorder, 8.6% (CI, 6.9% to 10.6%) had posttraumatic stress disorder, 7.6% (CI, 5.9% to 9.4%) had a generalized anxiety disorder, 6.8% (CI, 5.3% to 8.6%) had a panic disorder, and 6.2% (CI, 4.7% to 7.9%) had a social anxiety disorder. Each disorder was associated with substantial impairment that increased significantly (P < 0.001) as the number of anxiety disorders increased. Many patients (41%) with an anxiety disorder reported no current treatment. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis showed that both the GAD-7 scale and its 2 core items (GAD-2) performed well (area under the curve, 0.80 to 0.91) as screening tools for all 4 anxiety disorders.
Limitation: The study included a nonrandom sample of selected primary care practices.
Conclusions: Anxiety disorders are prevalent, disabling, and often untreated in primary care. A 2-item screening test may enhance detection.
Comment in
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Anxiety disorders: efficient screening is the first step in improving outcomes.Ann Intern Med. 2007 Mar 6;146(5):390-2. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-146-5-200703060-00011. Ann Intern Med. 2007. PMID: 17339624 No abstract available.
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The 2-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale had high sensitivity and specificity for detecting GAD in primary care.Evid Based Med. 2007 Oct;12(5):149. doi: 10.1136/ebm.12.5.149. Evid Based Med. 2007. PMID: 17909240 No abstract available.
Summary for patients in
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Summaries for patients. Anxiety disorders in primary care patients.Ann Intern Med. 2007 Mar 6;146(5):I16. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-146-5-200703060-00002. Ann Intern Med. 2007. PMID: 17339613 No abstract available.
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