Current Rates and Symptom Profiles of Panic Disorder in Six Cross-National Studies

Abstract

One-month and 6-month prevalence and symptom profiles of panic disorder from six cross-national epidemiologic studies are reported. These studies were conducted at five sites in the United States. Puerto Rico. Germany. Lebanon. Korea. and New Zealand. Results show that the !-and 6-month rates were consistent in the five sites in the United States and in other countries. There was a predominance of females in the rates of panic disorder in most countnes. Palpitations and trembling were prevalent in 60% or more persons with panic disorder at all sites. The results show that panic disorder is present with similar phenomenology in diverse cultures that have been studied.

Prevalence of anxiety disorders: a population-based epidemiological study in metropolitan area of Casablanca, Morocco

“…According to literature, lifetime prevalence of PD was 2.3% and the current one was 2% with a higher prevalence for women, younger and single subjects and a high comorbidity with other anxiety disorders and major depressive disorders [11-14]. …”

“…In Arab countries, Weissman et al [14] in the Cross-national epidemiology study of panic disorder in 10 countries, including over 40000 subjects, found that lifetime prevalence rates for panic disorder ranged from 1.4% to 2.9%. Mean age at first onset was usually in early to middle adulthood.…”

The epidemiology of anxiety disorders in the Arab world: A review

“…This 25.8% in males 47.1% in females Anxiety was found to be more prevalent in women than in men battery of tests was complemented by a clinical interview conducted by a senior psychiatrist based on DSM-III criteria. Two cross-national studies were conducted on a randomly sampled population representing four different areas of Lebanon (see Footnote 1) differentially exposed to war (Weissman et al, 1995(Weissman et al, , 1997, the 1 month, 6 months and lifetime prevalence of panic disorder were 1.4%, 2.1% and 2.1%, respectively. These studies used the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS-version 3) which is based on the DSM-III criteria.…”

“…Most of the reviewed studies showed that anxiety disorders from the Arab region are more common in women than in men (Takriti & Ahmad, 1992;Suleiman & Ahmad, 1993;Weissman et al, 1995Weissman et al, , 1997Al-Issa et al, 1999;Mcllvenny, DeGlume, Elewa, Fernandez, & Dormer, 2000;Abou-Saleh et al, 2001;Farhood, Dimassi, & Lehtinen, 2006;Karam et al, 2006). Anxiety disorders were also found to be more prevalent in women, in the case of elderly women (Ghubash et al, 2004).…”

Use and Abuse of Licit and Illicit Substances: Prevalence and Risk Factors among Students in Lebanon

“…Thus, the increasing violence, stress, the rise of some psychiatric disorders [32][33][34][35][36], the virtual absence of official control, the ease of availability and the local production of drugs at the time of the study would all together constitute an explosive mixture, leading theoretically and very much catastrophically to substance use in the Lebanese community.…”