Prevalence and clinical features of newly diagnosed generalized anxiety disorder patients in Spanish primary care settings: the GADAP study.
BACKGROUND
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the most impairing anxiety disorder, a high percentage of patients remain undiagnosed at the primary care level. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical features of newly diagnosed GAD patients.


METHODS
Multicentre, cross-sectional observational study conducted in primary care settings. GAD patients were diagnosed according to the MINI psychiatric interview, and were included in the study if their score for GAD-7 was ≥10. Anxiety and depression levels, and sleep disturbances were determined by HADS and MOS-sleep scales, respectively. Data regarding pharmacological treatment and healthcare resources in the previous 3 months were collected.


RESULTS
2,232 patients were recruited; average GAD-7 score was 14.1 ± 2.7 (mean symptom duration 32.3 ± 43.3 months). 96.9% of patients had a comorbid medical illness, with 83.9% patients suffering from pain. Psychiatric comorbidities were present in 66.4% of patients (social anxiety 37%, major depression 19.1%). HADS-depression scores rendered 28.4% and 55.9% of patients as probable and depressive cases, respectively. Patients' sleep rated 6.2 ± 1.9 on average in a 1 to 10 visual analogue scale. Only 34.9% of patients were following non-pharmacological treatment and 86.5%, 69.4% and 49.7% were treated with benzodiazepines, antidepressants and antiepileptics, respectively. The mean number of visits to the primary care physician in the previous 3 months was 5 times.


CONCLUSIONS
Cross-sectional design; does not allow to infer causality.
Departamento de Psiquiatría Miguel Servet Hospital y Universidad de Zaragoza, España. jgarcamp@gmail.com
Javier
J
García-Campayo
Fernando
F
Caballero
María
M
Perez
Vanessa
V
López
D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care; D013030:Spain