Comorbidity among childhood anxiety disorders.
This paper reports on 73 consecutive admissions to an outpatient anxiety disorder clinic for children and adolescents. Patients were evaluated with a structured diagnostic interview for primary and secondary disorders with DSM-III criteria in order to examine patterns of comorbidity. The most common primary diagnoses for the sample included separation anxiety disorder (33%), overanxious disorder (15%), social phobia of school (15%), and major depression (15%). Children with a primary diagnosis of separation anxiety disorders were most likely to receive a concurrent diagnosis of overanxious disorder. Alternatively, children with a primary diagnosis of overanxious disorder were most likely to receive an additional diagnosis indicative of a social anxiety problem, either social phobia or avoidant disorder. Children with a primary major depression most often exhibited social phobia and/or overanxious disorder. No clear-cut pattern of comorbidity emerged for the social phobic (school) group. These findings are discussed in terms of their comparability with results recently obtained from an adult anxiety clinic population.
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Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania 15213.
Strauss
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Francis
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D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008370:Manuals as Topic / Q000592:standards; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012923:Social Class