Risk of suicide and psychiatric comorbidities in generalized anxiety disorder

ABSTRACT Objective Investigate the risk of suicide in patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) Methods Cross-sectional study with 253 outpatients from the Psychiatry, Nephrology, and Cardiology units of the University Hospital of the Federal University of Alagoas. The instrument used was MINI 5.0.0 (Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview). Results GAD was present in 16.6% of the sample, which were 30.8% from the psychiatric unit and 11.3% in the outpatients of the other clinics. The majority were females (83.3%), married (53.8%), with a mean age of 44 (±12.2) years old. There was psychiatric comorbidity in 88.1% of the evaluated patients, of which 54.8% had two or more and 33.3% had only one. Major depression was the most prevalent (53.7%), followed by dysthymia (21.4%) and recurrent depression (14.6%). The risk of suicide was observed in 54.8% of subjects with GAD. Conclusion The prevalence of GAD in outpatient clinical samples was significantly higher than in the general population, mainly in the psychiatric clinic. The majority of the patients presented psychiatric comorbidity, especially mood disorders besides presenting risk of suicide. GAD showed high correlation with mood disorders and significant association with risk of suicide.