Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T13:13:32.079Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Varying temporal criteria for generalized anxiety disorder: prevalence and clinical characteristics in a young age cohort

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2006

JULES ANGST
Affiliation:
Zurich University Psychiatric Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland
ALEX GAMMA
Affiliation:
Zurich University Psychiatric Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland
O. JOSEPH BIENVENU
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
WILLIAM W. EATON
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
VLADETA AJDACIC
Affiliation:
Zurich University Psychiatric Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland
DOMINIQUE EICH
Affiliation:
Zurich University Psychiatric Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland
WULF RÖSSLER
Affiliation:
Zurich University Psychiatric Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract

Background. This study questions the 6-month duration criterion for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) used in DSM-III-R and DSM-IV.

Method. In adults from age 20/21 to 40/41 in the prospective Zurich Cohort Study, four groups of generalized anxiety syndromes defined by varying duration (2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months) were compared.

Results. Applying DSM-III (1979–1999) and DSM-III-R (1986–1999) criteria, there were no significant differences between the four groups in terms of family history of anxiety, work impairment, distress, treatment rates or co-morbidity with major depressive episodes (MDEs), bipolar disorder or suicide attempts. Only social impairment related to the length of episodes. The 6-month criterion of DSM-III-R and DSM-IV GAD would preclude this diagnosis in about half of the subjects treated for generalized anxiety syndromes.

Conclusions. In this epidemiological sample, the 6-month duration criterion for GAD could not be confirmed as clinically meaningful. GAD syndromes of varying duration form a continuum with comparable clinical relevance.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
2006 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.)