Prevalence and associated factors of anxiety among the population in an urban area of China: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to explore the prevalence and associated factors of anxiety disorder among the population in an urban area of China. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: The study was conducted in Shanghai, China. PARTICIPANTS: Residents aged 30–70 years who have lived for over 6 months in Shanghai from December 2018 to April 2019 were included in the study. OUTCOME MEASURES: The main study outcome was the prevalence of anxiety. The association of demographic information, medical expenses, living habits and sleep conditions with anxiety was also evaluated based on the collected data using structured questionnaires. RESULTS: Among 5063 participants, 498 (9.84%, 95% CI: 9.02% to 10.66%) suffered from anxiety. The female sex, age 60–70 years old, lower educational level, partly self-expenses, higher family medical expenses in the past year, stroke history, hypertension history, dyslipidaemia history, diabetes history, drinking, sleeping on average <6 hours per day and waking up suffocating during sleep were associated with a higher prevalence of anxiety (p<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, gender, type of medical expenses, family medical expenses, hours of sleep and waking up suffocating were related to anxiety (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed an alarmingly high prevalence of anxiety in the population living in an urban area of China. Sleep time <6 hours and waking up suffocating had a significant association with anxiety. These findings suggest that future anxiety prevention programmes in urban areas should incorporate interventions targeted at these factors, such as improving residents’ sleep quality.