Our results from clinical samples in a developing country with a diverse culture suggest the crosscultural validity of the ADHD comorbidity profile.

For many years, childhood anxiety was considered a benign and transitory disorder with a good o u tcome. More recent studies, however, show this b elief was wro n g 1 . Anxiety disorders are now considered chronic and pervasive and their prevalence increases throughout adolescence 2 . These children show a generalized anxious feeling with excessive w o rries about their parents, school tests, future events and visits to a doctor or past behavior. They a re also distressed about their competence, behavior and performance in different settings such as school, sports and social relationships and experience physical distress with flushing, rapid heart b e a t , headache, insomnia, agitation, muscles cramps a n d u r i n a ry urg e n c y. Young children might also show separation anxiety, which is a very particular feeling of distress, along with worries about separating f ro m parents or other close ones. These symptoms are usually expressed by refusing to go to school and inability to perf o rm social functions. Some anxious children develop specific fears with avoidance behaviors and social impairment. Obsessive-compulsive disorder can also be diagnosed in children.Anxiety disorders are one of the most studied fields of comorbid conditions with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Several studies documented a high prevalence of comorbidity in child ren and adolescents suffering from ADHD (Ta b l e 1). There are two Brazilian studies re p o rting pre v alence rates similar to those described in intern a t i onal literature. Also, when using strict diagnostic criteria, there is no diff e rence in the prevalence rates ABSTRACT -Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of anxiety disorders in a clinical referred sample of child ren and adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). M e t h o d : 78 children and adolescents with ADHD according to DSM-IV criteria were investigated with a semi-structured interview (P-CHIPS), complemented by clinical interviews with the children or adolescents and their parents. Their IQ was calculated with neuropsychological testing. Results: A high prevalence of anxiety disorders (23.05%) was found in the sample. Generalized anxiety disorder was the most prevalent disorder (12,8%), followed by social phobia (3,84%) and separation anxiety disorder (3,8%). Two children showed more than one anxiety disord e r. C o n c l u s i o n : C h i l d ren and adolescents with ADHD seem to be more prone to have comorbid anxiety disorders, at least in clinical samples referred to specialized units.KEY WORDS: ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, comorbidity.Transtorno de ansiedade em amostra de pacientes com déficit de atenção e hiperatividade RESUMO -O b j e t i v o: Avaliar a presença de transtornos de ansiedade numa amostra clínica referida de crianças e adolescentes com transtorno do déficit de atenção e hiperatividade (TDAH). M é t o d o:78 crianças c o m TDAH de acordo com os critérios da DSM-IV foram avaliadas através de entrevista semi-estruturada...