Anxiety disorders in 6 to 17 years old scholars

This paper examines the prevalence, comorbidity and developmental patterns of anxiety disorders in a sample of 243 elementary and high school students, aged 6 to 17 years. Subjects were diagnosed with a questionnaire (parent, child and adolescent form) adapted from the Spanish version of the DICA-R. The overall prevalence rate was 13.6%-18.5% (based on parents and children reports). Children informed about more disorders than their parents. A low degree of agreement at the diagnostic level was observed between each other. The most prevalent disorder was simple phobia and the lowest one the avoidant disorder. Separation anxiety disorder was more frequently diagnosed in prepuberal children (mean age: 10) in contrast to overanxious disorder which was more prevalent between puberal children and adolescents (mean age: 14.1). The compulsive acts and posttraumatic stress disorder are not reported by any source of information. Comorbidity patterns were found among anxiety disorders and among anxiety-depressive, anxietybehavioral and anxiety-elimination disorders.