[Clinical prevalence and reason for visit of patients with generalized anxiety disorder seen in the psychiatry out-patient clinics in Spain. Results of the LIGANDO study]

Abstract

Introduction: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is frequent and has a great impact on quality of life. Its prevalence in the general population and in primary care has been established previously in Spain; however it still must be determined in the mental health.

Methods: An epidemiological, multicenter and cross-sectional study was carried out, collecting demographic data, reason for consultation and presence of GAD diagnosis according to ICD-10 criteria of their first 75 visiting patients on a randomly selected representative sample of 312 psychiatrists.

Results: Data from 20,347 subjects was recorded. Clinic prevalence of GAD was 13.7% (95% confidence interval: 13.3-14.2). The most frequent reason for psychiatric consultation was depressive symptoms (26.7%) followed by symptoms of anxiety (18.2%). In 71.4% of GAD patients, the reason for consultation was anxiety symptoms.

Conclusions: GAD clinic prevalence in Spain is high. Almost one out of three GAD-patients visits the psychiatrist office for a reason other than this condition.