Table 4.
Prevalence (%) of anxiety disorders in children, adolescents and young adults
| Study (Country) | Reference | Instrument | N | Age | Source | Any Anxiety Disorder |
Specific Phobia |
Social Phobia |
Agoraphobia |
Panic Disorder |
GAD/OAD |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lifetime | Period | Lifetime | Period | Lifetime | Period | Lifetime | Period | Lifetime | Period | Lifetime | Period | ||||||
|
DSM-III-R | |||||||||||||||||
| DMHDS (New Zealand) | McGee et al (1990) | DISC | 943 | 15 | P/C | – | – | – | 3.6c | – | 1.1c | – | – | – | – | – | [5.9]c |
| Feehan et al (1994) | DIS-m-R | 930 | 17–19 | C | – | – | – | 6.1c | – | 11.1c | – | 4.0c | – | 0.8c | – | 1.8c | |
| Newman et al (1996) | DIS | 961 | 21 | C | – | – | – | 8.4c | – | 9.7c | – | 3.8c | – | 0.6c | – | 1.9c | |
| Kim-Cohen et al (2003) | DIS | 967 | 26 | C | – | – | – | 7.1 c | – | 10.7c | – | – | – | 3.9c | – | 5.5c | |
| CHDS (New Zealand) | Fergusson et al (1993) | DISC-P | 986 | 15 | P | – | 3.9c | – | 1.3c | – | 0.7c | – | – | – | – | – | 1.7 [0.6]c |
| DISC-C | 965 | C | – | 10.8c | – | 5.1 c | – | 1.7 c | – | – | – | – | – | 4.2 [2.1]a | |||
| Woodward & Fergusson (2001) | DIS | 964 | 15–16 | P/C | 29.9 | – | 20.6 | – | 2.9 | – | 1.5d | – | – | – | 11.0 [4.7] | – | |
| OADP (USA) | Lewinsohn et al (1993) | K-SADS | 1710 | 13–19 (T1) | C | 8.8 | – | 2.0 | – | 1.4 | – | 0.7 | – | 0.8 | – | [1.3] | – |
| 1 year FU (T2) | C | 9.2 | 1.5 | – | 1.5 | – | 0.6 | – | 1.2 | – | [1.2] | – | |||||
| Dutch-A (Netherlands) | Verhulst et al (1997) | DISC | 780 | 13–18 | P | – | 16.5b | – | 9.2b | – | 6.3b | – | 1.9b | – | 0.3b | – | 0.7 [1.5]b |
| DISC | C | – | 10.0b | – | 4.5b | – | 3.7b | – | 0.7b | – | 0.2b | – | 0.6 [1.8]b | ||||
| ZESCAP (Switzerland) | Steinhausen et al (1998) | DISC | 379 | 6–17 | P | – | 11.4b | – | 5.8b | – | 4.7 b | 1.9 b | – | – | 0.5 [2.1]b | ||
| QCMHS (Canada) | Breton et al (1999) | DISC | 2400 | 6–8 | C | – | 9.2b | – | 3.2b | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3.9b |
| P | – | 17.5b | – | 14.6b | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2.7b | |||||
| 9–11 | C | – | 5.8b | – | 1.3b | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3.8b | ||||
| P | – | 14.6b | – | 12.6b | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2.9 b | |||||
| 12–14 | C | – | 12.2b | – | 10.2b | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1.7 b | ||||
| P | – | 12.1b | – | 7.5b | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5.5 b | |||||
| Quebec (Canada) | Romano et al (2001) | DISC | 1201 | 14–17 | C | – | 8.9b | – | 1.5b | – | 4.6b | – | 1.9 b | – | – | – | 1.1 [2.6]b |
| DISC | P | – | 6.5b | – | 1.0b | – | 2.9b | – | 0.9 b | – | – | – | 0.8 [2.3]b | ||||
| P/C | – | 14.0b | – | 2.5b | – | 6.9b | – | 2.8 b | – | – | – | 1.7 [4.5]b | |||||
| WIC (USA) | Keenan et al (1997) | K-SADS | 104 | 5 | C | – | – | 11.5 | – | 4.6 | – | – | – | – | – | [1.1] | – |
| DSM-IV | |||||||||||||||||
| GSMS (USA) | Bittner et al (2007) | CAPA | 906 | 9/11/13 | P/C | – | 16.1a | – | 0.6a | – | 1.5a | – | 2.5a | – | 3.1a | – | 5.8 [6.6]a |
| 906 | <13 | P/C | – | 6.6a | – | 0.4a | – | 0.6a | – | 0.1a | – | (0.2)a | – | 1.8 [1.7]a | |||
| 906 | >13 | P/C | – | 10.6a | – | 0.2a | – | 1.0a | – | 2.4a | – | (3.0)a | – | 4.0 [5.5]a | |||
| EDSP (Germany) | Wittchen et al (1998); Wittchen, Stein & Kessler (1999) | CIDI | 3021 | 14–24 | C | 14.4 | 9.3c | 2.3 | 1.8c | 3.5 | 2.6c | 2.6 | 1.6c | 1.6 | 1.2c | 0.8 | 0.5c |
| Wittchen et al (1999) | CIDI | 1395 | 14–17 | C | 21.3 | 14.5c | 17.1 | 10.9c | 3.7 | 2.9c | 2.8 | 2.1 c | 0.7 | 0.3c | 0.3 | 0.2c | |
| BJS (Germany) | Essau et al (1998); Essau et al (2000) | CAPI | 1035 | 12–17 | C | 18.6 | 11.3c | 3.5 | 2.7c | 1.6 | 1.4c | 4.1 | 2.7c | 0.5 | 0.5c | 0.4 | 0.2c |
| 380 | 12–13 | C | 14.7 | 8.9c | 2.6 | 2.1c | 0.5 | 0.5c | 2.4 | 1.3c | 0.0 | 0.0c | 0.0 | 0.0c | |||
| 350 | 14–15 | C | 19.7 | 12.0c | 3.1 | 2.6c | 2.0 | 1.1c | 4.9 | 3.4c | 0.9 | 0.9c | 0.9 | 0.3c | |||
| 305 | 16–17 | C | 22.0 | 13.4c | 4.9 | 3.6c | 2.6 | 2.6c | 5.2 | 3.6c | 0.7 | 0.7c | 0.3 | 0.3c | |||
| CCCS (USA) | Angold et al (2002) | CAPA | 920 | 9–17 | – | – | – | 0.4a | – | 1.4a | – | 0.5a | – | 1.2a | – | – | |
| New Zealand Mental Health Survey (New Zealand) | Wells et al (2006) | CIDI | 12,992 | 16+ | C | – | 14.8c | – | 7.3c | – | 5.1c | – | 0.6c | 1.7c | 2.0c | ||
| 16–24 | C | – | 17.7c | – | 9.3c | – | 7.0c | – | 0.7c | – | 2.4c | – | 1.6c | ||||
| IPRP-Study (Puerto Rico) | Canino et al (2004) | DISC | 1886 | 4–17 | P/C | – | 6.9c | – | – | – | 2.5c | – | – | – | 0.5c | – | 2.2c |
| Taiwan Epidemiological Study of Mental Disorders in Adolescents (Taiwan) | Gau et al (2005) | K-SADS-E | 1070 | Seventh grade | C | – | 9.2a | – | 5.0a | – | 3.4a | – | 0.2a | 0.2a | – | 0.7a | |
| 1051 | Eighth grade | C | – | 7.4a | – | 5.6a | 1.8a | 0.0a | 0.1a | 0.3a | |||||||
| 1035 | Ninth grade | C | – | 3.1a | – | 0.7a | – | 2.0a | – | 0.0a | – | 0.0a | – | 0.4a | |||
Note: References from this table are available from the corresponding author. GAD, generalized anxiety disorder; OAD, overanxious disorder; [ ] indicates overanxious disorder, () indicates panic attacks; P, parent report; C, child report.
Study abbreviations in alphabetical order: BJS, Bremer Jugendstudie (Bremen Adolescent Study); CCCS, Caring for Children in the Community Study; CHDS, Christchurch Health and Development Study; DMHDS, Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study; Dutch-A, Dutch Adolescents; EDSP, Early Developmental Stages of Psychopathology; GSMS, Great Smoky Mountains Study; IPRP-Study, Island of Puerto Rico Prevalence Study; OADP, Oregon Adolescent Depression Project; QCMHS, Quebec Child Mental Health Survey; ZESCAP, Zurich Epidemiological Study of Child and Adolescent Psychopathology.
Abbreviations of diagnostic interviews: CAPA, Child and Adolescent Diagnostic Assessment; CAPI, Computer Assisted Psychiatric Interview (based on CIDI); CIDI, Composite International Diagnostic Interview; DICA, Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents; DIS, Diagnostic Interview Schedule; DISC, Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children; K-SADS, Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-age Children; SPIKE, Structured Psychopathological Interview and Rating of the Social Consequences for Epidemiology.
3-month.
6-month.
12-month.
Indicates agoraphobiapanic disorder.