title: Collaborative care for anxiety disorders in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: Studies evaluating collaborative care for anxiety disorders are recently emerging. A systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the effect of collaborative care for adult patients with anxiety disorders in primary care is therefore warranted.
  
  
  
  A literature search was performed.
  
  
  
  PubMed, Psycinfo, Embase, Cinahl, and the Cochrane library.
  
  
  
  Randomized controlled trials examining the effects of collaborative care for adult primary care patients with an anxiety disorder, compared to care as usual or another intervention. Synthesis methods: Standardized mean differences (SMD) on an anxiety scale closest to twelve months follow-up were calculated and pooled in a random effects meta-analysis.
  
  
  
  Of the 3073 studies found, seven studies were included with a total of 2105 participants. Included studies were of moderate to high quality. Collaborative care was superior to care as usual, with a small effect size (SMD = 0.35 95 % CI 0.14-0.56) for all anxiety disorders combined and a moderate effect size (SMD = 0.59, 95 % CI 0.41-0.78) in a subgroup analysis (five studies) on patients with panic disorder.
  
  
  
  Collaborative care seems to be a promising strategy for improving primary care for anxiety disorders, in particular panic disorder. However, the number of studies is still small and further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness in other anxiety disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center / GGZ inGeest, A.J. Ernststraat 1187, Amsterdam, 1081 HL, The Netherlands. a.muntingh@ggzingeest.nl.
authors.forename: Anna Dt
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Muntingh
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Social Sciences, Tranzo department, Tilburg University, PO Box 90153, Tilburg, 5000 LE, The Netherlands.|Top Clinical Centre for Body, Mind and Health, GGZ Breburg, Lage Witsiebaan 4, Tilburg, 5042 DA, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Christina M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: van der Feltz-Cornelis
authors.affiliation: Centre for Primary Care, Institute for Population Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.|Department of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine and Institute for Health and Care Research (EMGO+), VU University Medical Centre, Van der Boechorststraat 7, Amsterdam, 1081BT, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Harm Wj
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: van Marwijk
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, PO Box 9555, Leiden, 2300 RB, The Netherlands.|Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Centre, PO Box 9600, Leiden, 2300 RC, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Spinhoven
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center / GGZ inGeest, A.J. Ernststraat 1187, Amsterdam, 1081 HL, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anton Jlm
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: van Balkom
mesh_terms: D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D010346:Patient Care Management; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011320:Primary Health Care
keywords: Anxiety disorders; Collaborative care; Meta-analysis; Primary care; Randomized controlled trials; Systematic review