Journal
JOURNAL OF PSYCHOSOMATIC RESEARCH
Volume 78, Issue 2, Pages 109-115Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2014.11.018
Keywords
Anxiety; Depression; Psychosomatics; Health psychology; Medical comorbidity
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD [MH57858, MH065324, MH57835, MH64122, MH58915-03, U01 MH070022, U01 MH070018]
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Objective: Anxiety is linked to a number of medical conditions, yet few studies have examined how symptom severity relates to medical comorbidity. Purpose: The current study assessed associations between severity of anxiety and depression and the presence of medical conditions in adults diagnosed with anxiety disorders. Method: Nine-hundred eighty-nine patients diagnosed with panic, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorders reported on the severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms and on diagnoses of 11 medical conditions. Results: Severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms was strongly associated with having more medical conditions over and above control variables, and the association was as strong as that between BMI and disease. Odds of having asthma, heart disease, back problems, ulcer, migraine headache and eyesight difficulties also increased as anxiety and depressive symptom severity increased. Anxiety symptoms were independently associated with ulcer, whereas depressive symptoms were independently associated with heart disease, migraine, and eyesight difficulties. Conclusions: These findings add to a growing body of research linking anxiety disorders with physical health problems and indicate that anxiety and depressive symptoms deserve greater attention in their association with disease. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved.
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