Thursday, April 24, 2008

NIH study reveals incidence, precursors and psychiatric sequelae of major psychiatric disorders

A new study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) presents results on the first onset of substance use disorders (i.e., alcohol and drug abuse and dependence) and major mood and anxiety disorders, based on Wave 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC).

This landmark survey is the first conducted in the U.S. to identify rates of first episodes (i.e., incidence) of these disorders in the U.S. population. In addition, it provides information on sociodemographic and psychopathologic risk factors for those disorders—information critical for developing evidence-based preventive interventions—and estimates risk for subsequent comorbid disorders.

Bridget Grant, Ph.D., Chief of NIAAA’s Laboratory of Biometry and Epidemiology, and her colleagues found that 1-year incidence rates were highest for DSM-IV alcohol dependence (1.70%), alcohol abuse (1.02%), major depressive disorder (1.51%) and generalized anxiety disorder (1.12%), followed by panic disorder (0.62%), bipolar I disorder (0.53%) and specific phobia (0.44%). One-year incidence rates of DSM-IV social phobia (0.32%), bipolar II (0.21%) and drug abuse (0.28%) and drug dependence (0.32%) were lower but not insignificant. These rates are comparable to or exceed corresponding incidence rates for other common medical diseases such as lung cancer (0.06%), stroke (0.45%) and cardiovascular disease (1.5%).

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