Saber Yezli, Norah Albedah, Lisa Bilal, Dan J Stein, Abdulhameed Al-Habeeb, Abdullah Al-Subaie, Yasmin Altwaijri
{"title":"Epidemiology of adult separation anxiety disorder in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: results from the Saudi National Mental Health Survey.","authors":"Saber Yezli, Norah Albedah, Lisa Bilal, Dan J Stein, Abdulhameed Al-Habeeb, Abdullah Al-Subaie, Yasmin Altwaijri","doi":"10.1007/s00127-025-02882-8","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Adult separation anxiety disorder (ASAD) is thought to be prevalent and debilitating, yet many aspects of its epidemiology remain unclear. We aimed to investigate prevalence, course, correlates, comorbidity, impairment, and treatment of ASAD in Saudi Arabia.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The study analyzed a subset of 1793 participants from the Saudi National Mental Health Survey; a nationally representative household sample of Saudi citizens. The survey used the CIDI 3.0 to produce prevalence estimates of ASAD and other common DSM-IV mental disorders. Cross tabulations, survival analysis and logistic regression were used to analyse the data.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The lifetime and 12-month prevalence of ASAD were 7.6% and 3.8%, respectively. Over half (51.7%) of participants with lifetime ASAD had onset in adulthood, and 50.5% of those with lifetime ASAD also had 12-month ASAD. Lifetime ASAD was significantly associated with being female (OR = 2.1), not being married (ORs = 2.2-3.2), having low education (OR = 0.4), and maladaptive family functioning (ORs = 3.6-6.7). Primary lifetime ASAD was a strong predictor of subsequent other mental disorders (ORs = 1.1-6.5). Further, mood, impulse, and substance use disorders were significantly associated with subsequent first onset of ASAD (ORs = 2.15-3.0). ASAD was severely impairing in the presence (59.0%) or absence (56.2%) of 12-month comorbidity. Among those with lifetime ASAD, only 26.1% reported treatment for a mental health condition.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>ASAD is prevalent, with a persistent course and associated impairment, as well as substantial comorbidity and limited treatment in Saudi Arabia. Increasing awareness, early diagnosis, and treatment of ASAD may help reduce its burden.</p>","PeriodicalId":49510,"journal":{"name":"Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-025-02882-8","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: Adult separation anxiety disorder (ASAD) is thought to be prevalent and debilitating, yet many aspects of its epidemiology remain unclear. We aimed to investigate prevalence, course, correlates, comorbidity, impairment, and treatment of ASAD in Saudi Arabia.
Methods: The study analyzed a subset of 1793 participants from the Saudi National Mental Health Survey; a nationally representative household sample of Saudi citizens. The survey used the CIDI 3.0 to produce prevalence estimates of ASAD and other common DSM-IV mental disorders. Cross tabulations, survival analysis and logistic regression were used to analyse the data.
Results: The lifetime and 12-month prevalence of ASAD were 7.6% and 3.8%, respectively. Over half (51.7%) of participants with lifetime ASAD had onset in adulthood, and 50.5% of those with lifetime ASAD also had 12-month ASAD. Lifetime ASAD was significantly associated with being female (OR = 2.1), not being married (ORs = 2.2-3.2), having low education (OR = 0.4), and maladaptive family functioning (ORs = 3.6-6.7). Primary lifetime ASAD was a strong predictor of subsequent other mental disorders (ORs = 1.1-6.5). Further, mood, impulse, and substance use disorders were significantly associated with subsequent first onset of ASAD (ORs = 2.15-3.0). ASAD was severely impairing in the presence (59.0%) or absence (56.2%) of 12-month comorbidity. Among those with lifetime ASAD, only 26.1% reported treatment for a mental health condition.
Conclusion: ASAD is prevalent, with a persistent course and associated impairment, as well as substantial comorbidity and limited treatment in Saudi Arabia. Increasing awareness, early diagnosis, and treatment of ASAD may help reduce its burden.
期刊介绍：
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology is intended to provide a medium for the prompt publication of scientific contributions concerned with all aspects of the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders - social, biological and genetic.
In addition, the journal has a particular focus on the effects of social conditions upon behaviour and the relationship between psychiatric disorders and the social environment. Contributions may be of a clinical nature provided they relate to social issues, or they may deal with specialised investigations in the fields of social psychology, sociology, anthropology, epidemiology, health service research, health economies or public mental health. We will publish papers on cross-cultural and trans-cultural themes. We do not publish case studies or small case series. While we will publish studies of reliability and validity of new instruments of interest to our readership, we will not publish articles reporting on the performance of established instruments in translation.
Both original work and review articles may be submitted.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
