Prevalence and influencing factors of generalized anxiety disorder among disabled people in Shanghai Jing′an district

Abstract

Objective To survey the status of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) among disabled people in Shanghai Jing′an district and to investigate the influencing factors. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in January to March 2016 among the disabled residents in Shanghai Jing′an district. The general information was collected with questionnaire; the GAD status was rated with the Chinese version of 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale; the influencing factors related to GAD was examined with Logistic regression analysis. Results Among 1 417 participants there were 713 males (50.3%) and 704 females (49.7%). The highest proportion of disability was disabled limb (n=742, 52.4%). The grade 4 disability (mild) accounted for 45.9% (650/1 417) , and the grade 1 and 2 disability (severe) accounted for 13.6% (190/1 417) and 15.2% (212/1 417), respectively. There were 347 participants positive for GAD screening (GAD≥5) with a positive rate of 24.5%: 24.3% for males and 24.1% for females (χ2=0.007, P=0.960). The rates of mild, moderate and severe GAD were 19.1%, 3.5% and 1.1%, respectively. Multi-factor analysis showed that subjects with severe disability (vs. mild disability,β=0.575, P=0.003) , those unable activities of daily living (ADL) (vs. normal ADL, β=0.034, P=0.000) were more likely to lead to GAD. There was a lower risk of GAD for people with high school or junior college education than those with bachelor degree or above (P<0.05). The frequency of GAD in the disables aged 18-40 years was lower (P<0.05). Conclusion The GAD positive rate of disabled people in Shanghai Jing'an district is relatively high. Severe disability, ADL disorder, educational level and age are the factors affecting the prevalence of GAD. Key words: Disabled person; Questionnaires; Generalized anxiety disorder