The median prevalence rate of all anxiety disorders in a recent review was 8% with an extremely wide range of estimates (eg, 2% to 24%).9 Table III presents the rates of anxiety disorders in recent community surveys of youth. Current, or 12-month rates of anxiety disorders range from 2.2% in North Carolina youth55 to 9.5% in Puerto Rico.15 Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) are the two most prevalence disorders in youth. In contrast, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are both quite rare in children under 12. Similar to the gender ratio for adults, girls tend to have more of all subtypes of anxiety Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical disorders, irrespective of the age composition

of the sample. However, it has also been reported that, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical despite the greater rates of anxiety in girls across all ages, there is no significant difference between boys and girls in the average age

at onset of anxiety.26 Table III. Prevalence rates of anxiety disorders in recent community surveys. Source: http//www.statistics.gov.uk. Prevalence definitions: Point = current; 3 mo = months, 12 mo = 12 months. OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder; SAD, social anxiety disorder; GAD; generalized … Although there is substantial variation across studies, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the results of prospective community -based research reveal differential peak periods of onset of specific subtypes of anxiety: separation anxiety and specific phobias in Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical middle childhood; overanxious disorder (OAD) in late childhood; social phobia in middle adolescence; panic disorder in late adolescence; GAD in young adulthood; and

OCD in early adulthood.18 Data from prospective studies reveal a sharp increase in girls beginning as early as age 5, with a continuously increasing slope throughout, adolescence. Although rates of anxiety among males also increase throughout childhood and adolescence, the rise is far more gradual than that of females, and they begin to level off in late adolescence. Thus, by age 6, females have significantly greater rates of anxiety Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical than males. Despite the far more rapid increase in anxiety disorders with age in girls than in boys, there are no gender differences in the mean age at onset. of anxiety disorders or in their duration. There are consistent few differences in the much distribution of anxiety disorders by ethnicity and social class.56 Comorbidity between anxiety disorders and other mental disorders is already apparent in childhood and adolescence. Anxiety disorders are associated with all of the other major see more classes of disorders, including mood disorders, disruptive behaviors, eating disorders, and substance use disorders. The co-occurrence of anxiety disorders and mood disorders is so common that there is emerging evidence that anxiety disorders may be part of the developmental sequence in which anxiety is expressed early in life followed by depression in adulthood.