Disability and health-related quality of life in outpatients with generalised anxiety disorder treated in psychiatric clinics: is there still room for improvement?

OBJECTIVE: We assessed the impact of generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) on disability and health-related quality of life in outpatients treated in psychiatric clinics via a secondary analysis conducted in 799 patients from a cross-sectional study of prevalence of GAD in psychiatric clinics. METHODS: Patients were allocated into two groups: follow-up (15.7%) and newly diagnosed patients (84.3%), and were administered the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A), Clinical Global Impressions Scale (CGI), Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS), and 36-item short form structured quality of life questionnaire (SF-36) scales. RESULTS: The newly diagnosed group showed higher significant intensity of anxiety (56.9% vs 43.0% (HAM-A >24)), psychiatrist's CGI Severity (CGI-S) scores (4.2 vs 3.7), and perceived stress according to SDS (5.7 vs 5.2). They also showed lower scores in mental health-related quality of life: 25.4 vs 30.8. Statistical differences by gender were not observed. GAD was shown to have a significant impact on patient quality of life and disability, with a substantial portion having persistent, out of control symptoms despite treatment. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that there is still room for improvement in the medical management of patients with GAD treated in psychiatric clinics.