Prevalence of anxiety symptoms among the general population of Latvia in 2019–2020

Abstract

Background Anxiety is among the most common and disabling mental disorders. The aim of our study was to determine the point prevalence of at least mild anxiety symptoms and associated factors in Latvian general population Methods Computer assisted face-to-face interviews were carried out between November 2019 and March 2020 to gather information on a representative sample of the Latvian adult population (n = 2687). The participants were interviewed using the 7-item anxiety scale: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7); a score of ≥5 was defined as indicating the presence of at least mild clinically significant symptoms of anxiety. A score of ≥10 or greater was defined as cut point for identifying cases of generalized anxiety disorder. Binary logistic regression was applied. Results There were 1238 males (46.1%) and 1449 females (53.9%) recruited. The point prevalence of at least mild anxiety symptoms in general population was 14.8% with no statistically significant difference between genders. The point prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder according to GAD-7 was 4.1%. Self-evaluation of health state as low or moderate (p < 0.001) (vs. high), unfinished primary education (p = 0.002) (vs. university degree) and age below 65 (p < 0.001) (vs. 65+) were statistically significantly associated factors for anxiety. The odds of having anxiety symptoms were lower in urban dwellers (but not in capital city; vs. rural) (p = 0.01) and married participants or those living with partner (vs. divorced, widowed) (p = 0.04). Conclusions Young people, people with low self-esteem of health-state, those with lower level of education are at particularly significant risk of anxiety symptoms.