| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000)
Fiscal Year 1999: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥1,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000)
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| Research Abstract |
Purpose: To determine the prevalence of selected anxiety disorders (panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, GAD), to know the effects of demographic variables and major life events on the disorders, and to determine their influence over social life among community residents in Japan.
Methods: A random sample (n=2012) was selected from residents aged 20+ in an urban city of the Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Trained interviewers contacted 1807 eligible subjects between September 1997 and May 1999, and conducted 1031 (57%) face-to-face interviews. The Japanese translation of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview ver. 1.1 (WHO, 1993; modified by Kessler et al., 1994) was used to assess a lifetime experience of panic disorder and GAD disorder according to ICD 10 and DSM-III-R criteria. Selected 28 major life events in the lifetime were also assessed in the interview.
Results: Lifetime and six-month prevalence rates of GAD were 2.3% and 1.1%, respectively. Lifetime and six-month
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prevalence rates of panic disorder were 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively. Male : female ratio for GAD was almost 1:1; the prevalence was higher for younger and elderly populations. A higher age-specific cumulative rate was observed in a younger birth cohort born after the year 1963. Experiences of child abuse, divorce, heart disease were associated with a higher risk of GAD. Those who experienced GAD in the past had three times the greater days for sick leave. Only 26% of them visited psychiatrists, 17% visited general physicians, but did not psychiatrists; the remaining 67% did not visit medical facilities. One third of them were prescribed medication.
Conclusion: It is suggested that GAD is the second prevalent psychiatric disorder, following major depression, in a community in Japan. Impairment seems remaining even after they recovered from GAD. Information dissemination and education concerning GAD for a community, as well as psychological care for those at high risk of GAD, are needed to prevent and early detection of GAD. Less
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