Epidemiology of anxiety disorders in Florence.
A structured interview designed to diagnose anxiety disorders according to DSM-III (plus infrequent panic attacks and generalized anxiety disorder using DSM-III-R criteria) was given to 1110 people registered with 6 general practitioners (GPs), whether they consulted the doctor or not. As each citizen in Italy has to be registered with a GP, the sample was representative of the population. The interviews were carried out by the GPs, who were also third- or fourth-year trainees in psychiatry. The lifetime prevalence and point prevalence were: 0.36% and 0.27% for agoraphobia; 0.90% and 0.72% for agoraphobia with panic; 1.35% and 0.27% for panic disorder; 0.63% and 0.45% for simple phobia; 0.49% and 45% for social phobia, 5.41% and 2.79% for generalized anxiety disorder; and 0.72% and 0.63% for obsessive-compulsive disorder. These figures are lower than those reported in other surveys; possible explanations may be the use of a hierarchical diagnostic model and the fact that diagnosticians were psychiatrists instead of lay interviewers as in most studies in the United States. On the whole, 62% of anxiety cases consult a GP, 50% consult a psychiatrist and 7% are hospitalized.
Faravelli
C
C
Institute of Nervous and Mental Diseases, Florence University Medical School, Italy.
Guerrini Degl'Innocenti
B
B
Giardinelli
L
L
D000275:Adjustment Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000379:Agoraphobia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D010200:Panic; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology