Anxiety disorders in major depression

The prevalence and clinical impact of anxiety disorder comorbidity in major depression were studied in 255 depressed adult outpatients consecutively e nrolled in our Depression Research Program. Comorbid anxiety disorder diagn oses were present in 50.6% of these patients and included social phobia (27 .0%), simple phobia (16.9%), panic disorder (14.5%), generalized anxiety di sorder ([GAD] 10.6%), obsessive-compulsive disorder ([OCD] 6.3%), and agora phobia (5.5%). While both social phobia and generalized anxiety preceded th e first episode of major depression in 65% and 63% of cases, respectively, panic disorder (21.6%) and agoraphobia (14.3%) were much less likely to pre cede the first episode of major depression than to emerge subsequently. Alt hough comorbid groups were not distinguished by depression, anxiety, hostil ity, or somatic symptom scores at the time of study presentation, patients with comorbid anxiety disorders tended to be younger during the index episo de and to have an earlier onset of the major depressive disorder (MDD) than patients with major depression alone. Our results support the distinction between anxiety symptoms secondary to depression and anxiety disorders como rbid with major depression, and provide further evidence for different temp oral relationships with major depression among the several comorbid anxiety disorders. Copyright (C) 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company.