Prevalence of Comorbid Anxiety Disorders in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: A Literature Review

Abstract

Objective: We conducted a comprehensive review of the English language literature on the comorbidity of anxiety symptoms/disorders in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) in order to determine: their prevalence rates in clinical and non-clinical populations, the temporal relationship of anxiety comorbidity to SSDs, and the effect of comorbidity on outcome.Results: Overall lifetime prevalence rates for any anxiety disorder ranged from 30% to 85% with most studies showing rates higher than in the general population. In more than 50% of patients, the anxiety disorder preceded the onset of psychosis. Patients with comorbid panic symptoms were more frequent service users, had additional comorbidities and were more likely to be suicidal. Comorbid obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) tended to be associated with poorer social functioning, worse cognitive impairment and motor symptoms.Conclusions: There is a clear link between SSDs and anxiety disorders though its nature remains unclear. This has important implications for psychiatric nosology, aetiology and treatment.

Anxiety and depression in psychosis: a systematic review of associations with positive psychotic symptoms

“…A recent comprehensive review of anxiety disorders in the context of schizophrenia has shown that anxiety (when taken to mean any experience of clinically significant anxious symptoms) is present in 16%–85% of samples, with the overall rate for clinical studies (as opposed to epidemiological ones) averaging 50% . Similar findings have been reported using a sample of out‐patients, with 41.5% reaching criteria for a concurrent anxiety disorder .…”

Anxiety as a neurodevelopmental disorder in a neuronal subpopulation: Evidence from gene expression data

“…In fact, it appears that the action mechanism of a specific gene is less important than its expression level in specific brain regions in the prediction of its relevance for behavioral processes. Secondly, the anxiety accompanying several mental diseases, such as depression and schizophrenia (Pokos and Castle, 2006), might be due to the brain expression level of the genes involved in the main symptoms of the disease.…”

Anxiety, psychosis and substance use: prevalence, correlates and recognition in an outpatient mental health setting

“…[12][13][14][15][16] With respect to particular AD, rates of panic disorder in schizophrenia are of the order of 5% to 35%. [14][15][16][17][18][19] Obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD) also commonly co-occurs with schizophrenia. Studies have found 29% of an inpatient sample 17 and 37.5% of an outpatient sample 14 to have OCD in addition to schizophrenia.…”