ABSTRACT
Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychiatric disorders in the general population. Our objective was to describe the cumulative incidence and risk factors of anxiety disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in a follow-up of young adults over a five-year period. This is a prospective cohort conducted in two waves. The first took place from 2007 to 2009, in which 1,560 young adults aged between 18 and 24 years were evaluated using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Subjects were invited to participate in the second wave, which wave took place from 2012 to 2014, where 1,244 young adults were evaluated using the MINI-Plus. Our findings showed a cumulative incidence of 10.9% for any anxiety disorder, 6.5% for generalized anxiety disorder, 6.0% for agoraphobia, 2.0% for OCD, 1.6% for panic disorder, 1.1% for social anxiety and 0.7% for PTSD. Being female and having had a depressive episode were risk factors to develop any anxiety disorder. We observed a high cumulative incidence of anxiety disorders in a population-based sample of young adults. Our data highlights the importance of the early identification of these disorders as this could lead to early illness detection, early illness management and a reduced burden of disease.