Epidemiology of anxiety disorders in Florence

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Abstract
ABSTRACT– A structured interview designed to diagnose anxiety disorders according to DSM‐III (plus infrequent panic attacks and generalized anxiety disorder using DSM‐III‐R criteria) was given to 1110 people registered with 6 general practitioners (CPs), whether they consulted the doctor or not. As each citizen in Italy has to be registered with a GP, the sample was representative of the population. The interviews were carried out by the GPs, who were also third‐ or fourth‐year trainees in psychiatry. The lifetime prevalence and point prevalence were: 0.36% and 0.27% for agoraphobia; 0.90% and 0.72% for agoraphobia with panic; 1.35% and 0.27% for panic disorder; 0.63% and 0.45% for simple phobia; 0.49% and 45% for social phobia, 5.41% and 2.79% for generalized anxiety disorder; and 0.72% and 0.63% for obsessive‐compulsive disorder. These figures are lower than those reported in other surveys; possible explanations may be the use of a hierarchical diagnostic model and the fact that diagnosticians were psychiatrists instead of lay interviewers as in most studies in the United States. On the whole, 62% of anxiety cases consult a GP, 50% consult a psychiatrist and 7% are hospitalized.

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