Browsing by Author "Frilander, Nelli"

Objective: Anxiety disorders are among the most common groups of mental disorders, and one of the leading causes of disease burden globally. Anxiety disorders are associated with many general medical conditions (GMCs), but little studies of the wide-ranging associations over multiple GMC categories have been conducted. This study aims to examine whether people with an anxiety disorder have more lifetime GMCs compared to people without anxiety disorders, and whether they have a higher risk of developing subsequent GMCs, across multiple GMC categories. Methods: The participants were a part of the FinnGen study sample, totaling 519 841 individuals. Lifetime comorbidity analyses were conducted with an anxiety disorder group (N = 63 695) consisted of all individuals who had any ICD-10 phobic anxiety disorder or other anxiety disorder diagnosis, or corresponding ICD-9 or ICD-8 diagnosis. A sex and age (±2 years) matched control group (N = 127 390) of individuals who had no phobic anxiety disorder or other anxiety disorder diagnoses was created. Proportions of GMCs from 11 different categories (allergy, gastrointestinal, urogenital, hematological, neurological, dermatological, musculoskeletal, endocrine, pulmonary, oncological, and cardiovascular) in anxiety disorder group and matched control group were compared with each other with χ2-test. Next, Cox regression was used to calculate whether having an anxiety disorder increases the risk of developing a subsequent GMC. The whole FinnGen sample was used as a basis for the Cox regression analyses, and for each analysis, the individuals who had a diagnosis in the corresponding GMC category before the start of follow-up period (1.1.2000–31.12.2020) were removed from the analysis, leading to samples whose sizes varied between 451 523 and 508 804. Four Cox regression models were created for each GMC category: Model A, which was adjusted for sex, age, and calendar time, Model B that was further adjusted for other GMC comorbidities, and time-lagged versions of Models A and B. Results: Individuals with anxiety disorders had higher lifetime prevalence rates of all GMCs, except for cancers. Having a prevalent anxiety disorder diagnosis increased the risk of a subsequent GMC in all 11 GMC categories, most notably gastrointestinal and hematological conditions. The hazard ratios ranged between 1.21 for cancers and 2.59 for hematological conditions. Conclusions: There are wide-ranging associations between anxiety disorders and GMCs. For most GMCs, individuals with an anxiety disorder had about two-fold risk to develop a subsequent GMC. The associations were especially strong for gastrointestinal and hematological conditions, and clearly the weakest for cancers. This study provides evidence of temporal associations across a range of GMCs, also including ones that have hardly been studied previously, such as hematological conditions and allergies. Further study with separate anxiety disorders and GMCs, as well as genetic connections, is still needed.