Comorbidity in childhood anxiety disorders and treatment outcome

Abstract

Objective: Psychiatric comorbidity is common in anxious children. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of comorbidity on treatment outcome in anxious children.

Method: Participants were 173 children between the ages of 8 and 13 years who met primary DSM-III-R/DSM-IV diagnoses of separation anxiety disorder, overanxious disorder/generalized anxiety disorder, or avoidant disorder/social phobia assessed by the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children (ADIS-C). The majority (79%) had at least one comorbid diagnosis. Participants were randomly assigned to cognitive-behavioral therapy or waitlist. Group differences in ADIS-C diagnoses were compared after treatment. Multiple parent and child self-report measures were used to measure symptoms as well.

Results: Pretreatment comorbidity was not associated with differences in treatment outcome: 68.4% of noncomorbid participants and 70.6% of comorbid participants were free of their primary diagnosis after treatment. Regarding parent and child self-report symptoms, multivariate analyses of variance revealed significant time (treatment) main effects, but no significant main effect for group (comorbid status) or time/group interaction.

Conclusions: The cognitive-behavioral treatment program was similarly effective in anxious children with and without comorbid disorders; both groups showed clinically significant reductions in pretreatment diagnoses and symptoms.