A systematic review of reviews on the prevalence of anxiety disorders in adult populations.

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101570837 Publication Model: eCollection Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2162-3279 (Electronic) NLM ISO Abbreviation: Brain Behav Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons

Anxiety Disorders/*epidemiology; Adult ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Review Literature as Topic

Background: A fragmented research field exists on the prevalence of anxiety disorders. Here, we present the results of a systematic review of reviews on this topic. We included the highest quality studies to inform practice and policy on this issue.
Method: Using PRISMA methodology, extensive electronic and manual citation searches were performed to identify relevant reviews. Screening, data extraction, and quality assessment were undertaken by two reviewers. Inclusion criteria consisted of systematic reviews or meta-analyses on the prevalence of anxiety disorders that fulfilled at least half of the AMSTAR quality criteria.
Results: We identified a total of 48 reviews and described the prevalence of anxiety across population subgroups and settings, as reported by these studies. Despite the high heterogeneity of prevalence estimates across primary studies, there was emerging and compelling evidence of substantial prevalence of anxiety disorders generally (3.8-25%), and particularly in women (5.2-8.7%); young adults (2.5-9.1%); people with chronic diseases (1.4-70%); and individuals from Euro/Anglo cultures (3.8-10.4%) versus individuals from Indo/Asian (2.8%), African (4.4%), Central/Eastern European (3.2%), North African/Middle Eastern (4.9%), and Ibero/Latin cultures (6.2%).
Conclusions: The prevalence of anxiety disorders is high in population subgroups across the globe. Recent research has expanded its focus to Asian countries, an increasingly greater number of physical and psychiatric conditions, and traumatic events associated with anxiety. Further research on illness trajectories and anxiety levels pre- and post-treatment is needed. Few studies have been conducted in developing and under-developed parts of the world and have little representation in the global literature.

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Keywords: Anxiety; anxiety disorders; demographics; epidemiology; international; mental disorders; prevalence

Date Created: 20160727 Date Completed: 20170607 Latest Revision: 20220410

20250114

PMC4951626

10.1002/brb3.497

27458547