title: Anxiety symptoms in a major mood and schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
abstract: Comorbid anxiety symptoms and disorders are present in many psychiatric disorders, but methodological variations render comparisons of their frequency and intensity difficult. Furthermore, whether risk factors for comorbid anxiety symptoms are similar in patients with mood disorders and schizophrenia spectrum disorders remains unclear.
  
  
  
  The Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS) was used to measure anxiety symptoms in psychiatric care patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (SSA, n=113), bipolar disorder (BD, n=99), or depressive disorder (DD, n=188) in the Helsinki University Psychiatric Consortium Study. Bivariate correlations and multivariate linear regression models were used to examine associations of depressive symptoms, neuroticism, early psychological trauma and distress, self-efficacy, symptoms of borderline personality disorder, and attachment style with anxiety symptoms in the three diagnostic groups.
  
  
  
  Frequent or constant anxiety was reported by 40.2% of SSA, 51.5% of BD, and 55.6% of DD patients; it was described as severe or extreme by 43.8%, 41.4%, and 41.2% of these patients, respectively. SSA patients were significantly less anxious (P=0.010) and less often avoided anxiety-provoking situations (P=0.009) than the other patients. In regression analyses, OASIS was associated with high neuroticism, symptoms of depression and borderline personality disorder and low self-efficacy in all patients, and with early trauma in patients with mood disorders.
  
  
  
  Comorbid anxiety symptoms are ubiquitous among psychiatric patients with mood or schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and in almost half of them, reportedly severe. Anxiety symptoms appear to be strongly related to both concurrent depressive symptoms and personality characteristics, regardless of principal diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital, PO Box 22 (Välskärinkatu 12 A), 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Karpov
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital, PO Box 22 (Välskärinkatu 12 A), 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Joffe
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital, PO Box 22 (Välskärinkatu 12 A), 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aaltonen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Mannerheimintie 166, 00271 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Suvisaari
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital, PO Box 22 (Välskärinkatu 12 A), 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Baryshnikov
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital, PO Box 22 (Välskärinkatu 12 A), 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Näätänen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital, PO Box 22 (Välskärinkatu 12 A), 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koivisto
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Helsinki University Central Hospital, PO Box 590, 00029 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Melartin
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Mannerheimintie 166, 00271 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oksanen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Mannerheimintie 166, 00271 Helsinki, Finland; Department of Social Services and Health Care, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suominen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital, PO Box 22 (Välskärinkatu 12 A), 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heikkinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital, PO Box 22 (Välskärinkatu 12 A), 00014 Helsinki, Finland; Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Mannerheimintie 166, 00271 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paunio
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital, PO Box 22 (Välskärinkatu 12 A), 00014 Helsinki, Finland; Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Mannerheimintie 166, 00271 Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: erkki.isometsa@hus.fi.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Isometsä
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011599:Psychopathology; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D000068099:Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Anxiety; Bipolar disorder; Comorbidity; Depression; Schizophrenia