Prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder among patients attending medicine outpatient department in a tertiary care center: A cross-sectional study

Generalized anxiety disorder is commonly underdiagnosed and undertreated in medical settings. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence and correlates of generalized anxiety disorder among patients presenting to medicine outpatient department in a tertiary care centre. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted among the patients visiting the outpatient department of General Medicine in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Sociodemographic and clinical parameters were collected using a structured pro forma. All patients were administered Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) to screen for the presence of generalized anxiety disorder. Patients who score 10 or more underwent a semi-structured evaluation using a generalized anxiety disorder module of Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders. Two hundred and fifty patients were recruited for the study. The mean age of the participants was 40.66 ± 12.8 years. More than one-fourth of them had diabetes mellitus and about one-fifth of the participants had systemic hypertension and hypothyroidism. Thirty five (14%) participants screened positive on GAD-7 scale. On detailed evaluation using SCID-I, 19 (7.6%) participants were confirmed to have a generalized anxiety disorder. Female gender was associated with the presence of GAD. One in thirteen patients presenting to the medicine outpatient department were found to have generalized anxiety disorder. Female patients had a greater prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder compared to male patients.