Association between generalized anxiety levels and pain in a community sample: evidence for diagnostic specificity

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) has a specific relationship to pain syndromes, going beyond the established association of pain with anxiety syndromes in general.

METHODS: Mental disorders were assessed in a community sample (N=4181; 18-65 years) using the DSM-IV/M-CIDI. Several threshold definitions were used to define GAD and medically unexplained pain.

RESULTS: The association between pain and GAD (odds ratio, OR=5.8 pain symptoms; OR=16.0 pain disorder) is stronger than the association between pain and other anxiety disorders (OR=2.4 pain symptoms; OR=4.0 pain disorder). This association extends to subthreshold level definitions of GAD with some indication for a non-linear dose-response relationship. The GAD-pain link cannot sufficiently be explained by demographic factors, comorbid mental or physical disorders.

CONCLUSIONS: The association of pain and generalized anxiety is not artifactual. Compared to other anxiety syndromes, it appears to be stronger and more specific suggesting the need to explore clinical and public health implications.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)684-93
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Anxiety Disorders
Volume23
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2009
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 64249102515
ORCID /0000-0001-7646-8265/work/142232631
ORCID /0000-0002-9687-5527/work/142235196
ORCID /0000-0002-1697-6732/work/148632158

Keywords

Research priority areas of TU Dresden

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

  • Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Anxiety Disorders/diagnosis, Community Mental Health Services, Diagnosis, Differential, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pain/diagnosis, Severity of Illness Index, Young Adult

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