Prevalence of anxiety disorders and association to socioeconomic position. Results from the Lolland Falster Health Study

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to describe the prevalence of anxiety disorders in a general population and the association to socioeconomic position (SEP), which has not been described in a Danish context before. Material and methods We present data on anxiety symptoms from respondents in the rural-provincial Lolland-Falster population Health Study (LOFUS). Analyses of the questionnaire responses to the Anxiety Symptom Scale were done by descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses adjusted for sex and age. Results 14,834 LOFUS respondents who completed the Anxiety Symptom Scale were included; According to the original algorithm 371 (2.5%) had an anxiety disorder. The adjusted odds ratios (aOR) for anxiety disorder were strongly associated to SEP. We found aOR for anxiety to be: 3.8 (confidence interval (CI 95%) 2.54 − 5.92) for respondents with no postsecondary education compared to those with 3+ years of postsecondary education; 11.9 (CI 8.89 − 16.01) for respondents temporarily out of a job compared to those working; 9.4 (CI 6.06 − 14.51) for those experiencing constant financial strain compared to those not experiencing financial strain. Relaxing the criteria for anxiety to item 10 > 1, the prevalence raised to 3.9%. The association was unchanged related to education; however, the aOR dropped to 9 and 8 respectively, for being temporally out of job, or in financial strain every month– when doing same comparisons. Conclusions The 14-day prevalence of anxiety disorder seems low but strongly associated to SEP especially for individuals temporarily out of a job or experiencing financial strain.