A study done at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. states that twenty percent of patients seen by primary care physicians have at least one Anxiety Disorder. Dr. Kurt Kroenke, the lead researcher, is an internationally recognized internist who studies physical symptoms, especially pain, and their links to mental disorders including Anxiety and Depression. He states:
Anxiety often manifests as a physical symptom like pain, fatigue, or inability to sleep, so it is not surprising that one out of five patients who come to a doctor’s office with a physical complaint have anxiety.
The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that between ten and twenty percent of the American people age eighteen and older suffer from some sort of Anxiety Disorder, so the twenty percent figure stated in the study rings true.
The study found that Anxiety Disorders among patients was as prevalent as Depression. The researchers were surprised that the prevalence of Anxiety Disorder was much more common than they thought it might be among patients who were visiting a physician for a physical problem or illness. Compared to people without mental illness, people with Anxiety have a worse functional status, more disability days, and more physician visits.
{ 0 comments }
