title: Comorbidity among childhood anxiety disorders.
abstract: 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.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania 15213.
authors: C G
authors: CG
authors: Last
authors: C C
authors: CC
authors: Strauss
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Francis
mesh_terms: 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