We present prevalence and treatment utilization rates for child anxiety disorders in a university-affiliated primary care clinic. Families were recruited from a pediatric patient list and 714 families participated in an initial study wherein they completed child anxiety questionnaires. According to parent and child self-report questionnaires (n=714), 22% and 20% of children, respectively, were above a suggested clinical cutoff on a brief anxiety screen; 19% and 14% of children exceeded clinical cutoffs on a separate social anxiety questionnaire. All families were invited to participate in a second study that included the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children-Parent Version and questions about treatment utilization; telephone interviews with 190 parents showed 1-year prevalence rates of DSM-IV child disorders to be 10.0% (se=2.2%) for specific phobia, 6.8% (se=1.8%) for social phobia, 3.2% (se=1.3%) for generalized anxiety disorder, 0.5% (se=.7%) for selective mutism, 1.6% (se=.9%) for major depressive disorder, 1.1% (se=.7%) for dysthymia, and 12.6% (se=2.4%) for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Among children with a current anxiety disorder, 31% had received counseling or medication treatment during their lifetime, compared to 40% of children with depression and 79% with ADHD. Adolescent age and being Caucasian were predictors of psychotherapy use; having an ADHD diagnosis was a predictor of both psychotherapy and medication use. The high prevalence of impairing anxiety disorders, in concert with the very low extent of treatment utilization, suggests a need for methods to identify and disseminate empirically validated treatments for these disorders in the primary care setting.
These results suggest that the majority of individuals in this study did not benefit from paroxetine in a consistent fashion. Further work remains to be done to determine if subgroups of patients (e.g., those who tolerate higher doses, those who are depressed) may benefit.
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