Prevalence of anxiety disorders of outpatients in internal medicine departments of general hospitals at different level

Objective To describe the prevalence of anxiety disorders of outpatients in internal medicine departments in general hospitals of different level in Shenyang.Methods Stratified multi-stage cluster randomization was used to identify 23 general hospitals for the investigation.A total of 5 312 outpatients above 15 years old in internal medicine departments were investigated.Expanded version of General Health Questionnaire(GHQ-12)was used as a screen instrument to identify subg roups of the sample at high,moderate and low risk,then the psychiatrists deter mined heir diagnosis by using structured clinical interview for DSM-IVAx is I Disorders-Patient Edition(SCID-I/P)for 100% of high-risk and 40% of moder ate-risk and 10% of low-risk subjects.Results The overall current prevalence of anxiety disorders in outpatients of level 3 hospitals(5.93%,95%CI:4.98%~7.05%)was higher than that of level 2(3.96%,95%CI:3.12%~5.02%),RR was 0.67(95%CI:0.50~0.90).Conclusion The prevalence of anxiety disorders in outpatients in internal medicine departments of general hospitals in level 3 was higher than that of level 2.