Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-94d59 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T07:02:39.604Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Should excessive worry be required for a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder? Results from the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2005

AYELET MERON RUSCIO
Affiliation:
Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
MICHAEL LANE
Affiliation:
Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
PETER ROY-BYRNE
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
PAUL E. STANG
Affiliation:
Galt Associates and Department of Health, College of Health Sciences, West Chester University, West Chester, PA, USA
DAN J. STEIN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cape Town, South Africa
HANS-ULRICH WITTCHEN
Affiliation:
Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Dresden University of Technology, Germany
RONALD C. KESSLER
Affiliation:
Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Abstract

Background. Excessive worry is required by DSM-IV, but not ICD-10, for a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). No large-scale epidemiological study has ever examined the implications of this requirement for estimates of prevalence, severity, or correlates of GAD.

Method. Data were analyzed from the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication, a nationally representative, face-to-face survey of adults in the USA household population that was fielded in 2001–2003. DSM-IV GAD was assessed with Version 3.0 of the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Non-excessive worriers meeting all other DSM-IV criteria for GAD were compared with respondents who met full GAD criteria as well as with other survey respondents to consider the implications of removing the excessiveness requirement.

Results. The estimated lifetime prevalence of GAD increases by ~40% when the excessiveness requirement is removed. Excessive GAD begins earlier in life, has a more chronic course, and is associated with greater symptom severity and psychiatric co-morbidity than non-excessive GAD. However, non-excessive cases nonetheless evidence substantial persistence and impairment of GAD, high rates of treatment-seeking, and significantly elevated co-morbidity compared with respondents without GAD. Non-excessive cases also have sociodemographic characteristics and familial aggregation of GAD comparable to excessive cases.

Conclusions. Individuals who meet all criteria for GAD other than excessiveness have a somewhat milder presentation than those with excessive worry, yet resemble excessive worriers in a number of important ways. These findings challenge the validity of the excessiveness requirement and highlight the need for further research into the optimal definition of GAD.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)