Abstract
Study design:
Meta-analysis.
Objectives:
Prevalence estimates indicate that anxiety following spinal cord injury (SCI) is a common problem. However, methodological differences between studies may impact the clinical interpretation of these data.
Methods:
Data from 18 independent studies (Nparticipants=3158), which reported the prevalence of an anxiety disorder or associated symptoms, were identified from the Embase, PubMed and PsycInfo databases. Proportions were the primary effect size estimate. Confidence intervals, fail-safe Ns and the I2 statistic were additionally calculated to identify the extent to which findings were robust and consistent across studies.
Results:
Five per cent of participants met the criteria for either GAD or panic disorder, with Agoraphobia identified in 2.5%. These diagnostic data were, however, limited to two studies. Higher rates were noted for self-reported ‘caseness’ of anxiety, with 27% reporting clinically significant symptoms. Anxiety prevalence estimates varied across the individual self-report measures (range: 15–32%). Method of administration (range: 26–32%) did not impact significantly on these estimates nor did recruitment source, with similarly high anxiety levels reported by hospital (27%) and community (29%) samples.
Conclusions:
Early identification and treatment of anxiety are important in SCI rehabilitation, with a subgroup of individuals experiencing chronic symptoms. Further research is needed to establish guidelines for the interpretation of self-report data, including the use of clinical cutoffs.
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Change history
05 August 2016
This article has been corrected since Advance Online Publication and a corrigendum is also printed in this issue
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Appendices
Appendix A
Search strategies for electronic databases
Appendix B
Data extraction sheet
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Le, J., Dorstyn, D. Anxiety prevalence following spinal cord injury: a meta-analysis. Spinal Cord 54, 570–578 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2016.15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2016.15
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