Prevalence and recognition of anxiety syndromes in five European primary care settings. A report from the WHO study on Psychological Problems in General Health Care.
BACKGROUND
This study explored the prevalence, socio-demographic characteristics and severity of different anxiety syndromes in five European primary care settings, as well as medical help-seeking, recognition by general practitioners (GPs) and treatment prescribed.


METHODS
The data were collected as part of the WHO study on Psychological Problems in General Health Care. Among 9714 consecutive primary care patients, 1973 were interviewed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Reason for contact, ICD-10 diagnoses, severity and disability were assessed. Recognition rates and treatment prescribed were obtained from the GPs.


RESULTS
Anxiety syndromes, whether corresponding to well-defined disorders or to subthreshold conditions, are frequent in primary care and are associated with a clinically significant degree of severity and substantial psychosocial disability. Their recognition by GPs as well as the proportion treated are low.


CONCLUSIONS
Since people with subthreshold anxiety show a substantial degree of disability and suffering, GPs may consider diagnostic criteria to be insufficient. However, their awareness of specific definitions and treatment patterns for anxiety disorders still needs a lot of improvement both for patients' well-being and for the cost resulting from non-treatment.
Weiller
E
E
INSERM U302, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière-Pavillon Clérambault, Paris, France.
Bisserbe
J C
JC
Maier
W
W
Lecrubier
Y
Y
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D015995:Prevalence
D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents