The association of anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive personality disorder with anorexia nervosa: evidence from a family study with discussion of nosological and neurodevelopmental implications.
BACKGROUND
To investigate the association of anorexia nervosa with anxiety disorders through use of a case-control family study design.


METHODS
Lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive personality disorder was determined among 574 first-degree relatives of 152 probands with anorexia nervosa and compared to rates observed among 647 first-degree relatives of 181 never-ill control probands.


RESULTS
Adjusting for comorbidity of the same illness in the proband, relatives of probands with anorexia nervosa, had a significantly higher prevalence of generalized anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, panic disorder, and obsessive compulsive personality disorder compared to relatives of never-ill control probands.


CONCLUSIONS
Anorexia nervosa may share familial liability factors in common with various anxiety phenotypes. In suggesting that a transmitted propensity for anxiety is a key aspect of vulnerability in anorexia nervosa, the findings point to research developments in the affective neurosciences, specifically the neurocircuitry of fear and anxiety, as a heuristic framework in which to interpret aspects of premorbid temperamental anxieties and clinical symptoms.
Strober
Michael
M
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, California 90024-1759, USA. mstrober@mednet.ucla.edu
Freeman
Roberta
R
Lampert
Carlyn
C
Diamond
Jane
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology