Quem ainda lê a produção científica psiquiátrica brasileira?

Abstract

Rev Bras Psiquiatr. 2007;29(2):188-99Cartas aos Editores 197 Despite Crippa et al.'s comments, our socioeconomic findings dovetail with the results previously described both in clinical and epidemiological studies of patients with SAD from the developed countries. For example, in an epidemiological study, Wells et al. found that early-onset SAD was associated with lower levels of education and low frequency of marriage. 2 Likewise, in a clinical study, Lecrubier found that patients with early-onset SAD (< 15 years) had lower levels of education than those from the late-onset group. 3 In terms of clinical features, the finding that the generalized subtype of SAD was more common in the early-onset group was also observed in studies of both epidemiological and clinical samples conducted by Wittchen and Manuzza, respectively, in which a significant correlation was found between earlier age at onset and the generalized subtype. [4][5] We believe that the discrepant findings described by Crippa et al. in their letter might be ascribed to the particular sociodemographic characteristics of their sample, which was composed exclusively by undergraduate subjects. Although we acknowledge that our study has some limitations, including its small sample size and the fact that it has enrolled individuals who sought treatment at a research center, it certainly covers a wider age range than does the study by Crippa et al. This feature may have provided the required heterogeneity to unveil more clear-cut differences between early-and late-onset SAD. Moreover, since we have described our findings using a treatment-seeking sample, our results may be considered as more relevant for the daily clinical practice.