title: Associations of specific phobia and its subtypes with physical diseases: an adult community study.
abstract: Specific phobia is the most prevalent anxiety disorder in the community and is associated with substantial impairment. Comorbidity with physical diseases is assumed and has important implications for etiology, treatment, or prevention of the comorbid conditions. However, due to methodological issues data are limited and subtypes of specific phobia have not been investigated yet. We examined the association of specific phobia and its subtypes with physical diseases in a representative community sample with physician-diagnosed physical diseases and diagnostic criteria of specific phobia.
  
  
  
  Data of the German Mental Health Survey from 4181 subjects aged 18-65 years were used. Specific phobia was diagnosed using M-CIDI/DIA-X interview; physical diseases were assessed through a self-report questionnaire and a medical interview. Logistic regression analyses adjusted for sex were calculated.
  
  
  
  Specific phobia was associated with cardiac diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, respiratory diseases, arthritic conditions, migraine, and thyroid diseases (odds ratios between 1.49 and 2.53). Among the subtypes, different patterns of associations with physical diseases were established. The findings were partially replicated in the Swiss PsyCoLaus Study.
  
  
  
  Our analyses show that subjects with specific phobia have an increased probability for specific physical diseases. From these analyses etiological mechanisms of specific phobia and physical disease can be deduced. As subtypes differed in their patterns of associations with physical diseases, different etiological mechanisms may play a role. The findings are highly relevant for public health in terms of prevention and therapy of the comorbid conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Witthauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.|ZInEP, The Zurich Program for Sustainable Development of Mental Health Services, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Vladeta
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ajdacic-Gross
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Andrea Hans
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vollenweider
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Waeber
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Preisig
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. roselind.lieb@unibas.ch.
authors.forename: Roselind
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lieb
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001168:Arthritis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012120:Respiration Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D057566:Self Report; D013959:Thyroid Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Comorbidity; Physical diseases; Representative survey; Specific phobia