Prevalence of social phobia among urban and rural residents of Liaoning province

Objective To understand the prevalence and treatment of social phobia among urban and rural adults in Liaoning province.Methods Totally 13 358 residents aged 18-65 years were randomly selected from 3 cities and 3 counties withs tratified multi-stage cluster sampling.The subjects were assessed with a face-to-face interview and Composite International Diagnostic Interview-1.0(CIDI-1.0).The DSMⅢ-R diagnosis of social phobia was made with CIDI 1.0 software.Results The adjusted lifetime,12-months,and 2 weeks prevalence of social phobia were 1.29%,0.81%,and 0.46%,respectively.The lifetime prevalence was significantly higher in the females(odds ratio=1.43,95% confidence interval=1.05-1.95)than in the males,and decreased with the increment of education and income level.Of all patients 89.4% did not receive any treatment for social phobia.Conclusion Social phobia is a commonmental disorder among adult residents in Liaoning province.Comprehensive measures are needed to improve the levels of knowledge,diagnosis and treatment of the disorder.