Patients with anxiety disorders have a suicide risk that is at least 10 times greater than that for the general population, study findings reveal. The researchers emphasize that this is higher than previously thought.

To further investigate the risk of suicide associated with anxiety disorders, Arif Khan (Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina, US) and colleagues used the FDA database to identify participants in recent clinical trials that evaluated anti-anxiety medications.

Among 20,076 patients diagnosed with panic disorder, social anxiety disorder or social phobia, generalized disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder, 12 committed suicide and 28 attempted suicide.

This represented an annual suicide risk rate of 193/100,000 patients, and an annual suicide attempt risk of 1350/100,000 patients. Furthermore, suicide risk was high regardless of anxiety disorder type, and differences in risk between the subtypes were not significant.

'We found that suicide risk among patients with anxiety disorders is higher than in the general population by a factor of 10 or more,' says the team.

They highlight the importance of this finding given that the patients selected for the study were considered as having minimal risk for suicide.

Khan et al point out, however, that this rate is only a fraction of the 60?70 times higher suicide risk associated with depressive disorders. Nevertheless, they say that the presence of anxiety may further increase suicide risk among patients with other psychiatric disorders.

The researchers conclude in the Journal of Affective Disorders: 'These data suggest that patients with anxiety disorders warrant thorough evaluation for suicide risk.'

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