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The cross-national epidemiology of specific phobia in the World Mental Health Surveys
- K. J. Wardenaar, C. C. W. Lim, A. O. Al-Hamzawi, J. Alonso, L. H. Andrade, C. Benjet, B. Bunting, G. de Girolamo, K. Demyttenaere, S. E. Florescu, O. Gureje, T. Hisateru, C. Hu, Y. Huang, E. Karam, A. Kiejna, J. P. Lepine, F. Navarro-Mateu, M. Oakley Browne, M. Piazza, J. Posada-Villa, M. L. ten Have, Y. Torres, M. Xavier, Z. Zarkov, R. C. Kessler, K. M. Scott, P. de Jonge
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- Journal:
- Psychological Medicine / Volume 47 / Issue 10 / July 2017
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 22 February 2017, pp. 1744-1760
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- Article
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Background
Although specific phobia is highly prevalent, associated with impairment, and an important risk factor for the development of other mental disorders, cross-national epidemiological data are scarce, especially from low- and middle-income countries. This paper presents epidemiological data from 22 low-, lower-middle-, upper-middle- and high-income countries.
MethodData came from 25 representative population-based surveys conducted in 22 countries (2001–2011) as part of the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys initiative (n = 124 902). The presence of specific phobia as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition was evaluated using the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview.
ResultsThe cross-national lifetime and 12-month prevalence rates of specific phobia were, respectively, 7.4% and 5.5%, being higher in females (9.8 and 7.7%) than in males (4.9% and 3.3%) and higher in high- and higher-middle-income countries than in low-/lower-middle-income countries. The median age of onset was young (8 years). Of the 12-month patients, 18.7% reported severe role impairment (13.3–21.9% across income groups) and 23.1% reported any treatment (9.6–30.1% across income groups). Lifetime co-morbidity was observed in 60.5% of those with lifetime specific phobia, with the onset of specific phobia preceding the other disorder in most cases (72.6%). Interestingly, rates of impairment, treatment use and co-morbidity increased with the number of fear subtypes.
ConclusionsSpecific phobia is common and associated with impairment in a considerable percentage of cases. Importantly, specific phobia often precedes the onset of other mental disorders, making it a possible early-life indicator of psychopathology vulnerability.
Contributors
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- By Núria Duran Adroher, Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, Jordi Alonso, Ali Obaid Al-Hamzawi, Laura Helena Andrade, Matthias C. Angermeyer, James Anthony, Corina Benjet, Guilherme Borges, Joshua Breslau, Evelyn J. Bromet, Ronny Bruffaerts, Brendan Bunting, Huibert Burger, José Miguel Caldas de Almeida, Graça Cardoso, Somnath Chatterji, Wai Tat Chiu, Giovanni de Girolamo, Ron de Graaf, Peter de Jonge, Koen Demyttenaere, John Fayyad, Alize J. Ferrari, Silvia Florescu, Anne M. Gadermann, Meyer Glantz, Jen Green, Michael J. Gruber, Oye Gureje, Josep Maria Haro, Yanling He, Steven G. Heeringa, Hristo Hinkov, Chiyi Hu, Yueqin Huang, Irving Hwang, Robert Jin, Elie G. Karam, Norito Kawakami, Ronald C. Kessler, Lola Kola, Viviane Kovess-Masféty, Michael C. Lane, Carmen Lara, William LeBlanc, Sing Lee, Jean-Pierre Lépine, Daphna Levinson, Zhaorui Liu, Gustavo Loera, Herbert Marschinger, Katie A. McLaughlin, Maria Elena Medina-Mora, Elizabeth Miller, Samuel D. Murphy, Aimee Nasser Karam, Matthew K. Nock, Mark A. Oakley Browne, Siobhan O’Neill, Johan Ormel, Beth-Ellen Pennell, Maria V. Petukhova, José Posada-Villa, Rajesh Sagar, Mohammad Salih Khalaf, Nancy A. Sampson, Kathleen Saunders, Michael Schoenbaum, Kate M. Scott, Soraya Seedat, Victoria Shahly, Dan J. Stein, Hisateru Tachimori, Nezar Ismet Taib, Adley Tsang, T. Bedirhan Üstün, Maria Carmen Viana, Gemma Vilagut, Michael R. Von Korff, J. Elisabeth Wells, Harvey A. Whiteford, David R. Williams, Ben Wu, Miguel Xavier, Alan M. Zaslavsky
- Edited by Jordi Alonso, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Somnath Chatterji, World Health Organization, Geneva, Yanling He
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- Book:
- The Burdens of Mental Disorders
- Print publication:
- 09 May 2013, pp ix-xii
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