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The cross-national epidemiology of social anxiety disorder: Data from the World Mental Health Survey Initiative

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Medicine, July 2017
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  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (95th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (84th percentile)

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5 news outlets
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1 blog
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12 X users
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3 Facebook pages
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1 YouTube creator

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271 Dimensions

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612 Mendeley
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Title
The cross-national epidemiology of social anxiety disorder: Data from the World Mental Health Survey Initiative
Published in
BMC Medicine, July 2017
DOI 10.1186/s12916-017-0889-2
Pubmed ID
Authors

Dan J. Stein, Carmen C. W. Lim, Annelieke M. Roest, Peter de Jonge, Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, Ali Al-Hamzawi, Jordi Alonso, Corina Benjet, Evelyn J. Bromet, Ronny Bruffaerts, Giovanni de Girolamo, Silvia Florescu, Oye Gureje, Josep Maria Haro, Meredith G. Harris, Yanling He, Hristo Hinkov, Itsuko Horiguchi, Chiyi Hu, Aimee Karam, Elie G. Karam, Sing Lee, Jean-Pierre Lepine, Fernando Navarro-Mateu, Beth-Ellen Pennell, Marina Piazza, Jose Posada-Villa, Margreet ten Have, Yolanda Torres, Maria Carmen Viana, Bogdan Wojtyniak, Miguel Xavier, Ronald C. Kessler, Kate M. Scott, WHO World Mental Health Survey Collaborators

Abstract

There is evidence that social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a prevalent and disabling disorder. However, most of the available data on the epidemiology of this condition originate from high income countries in the West. The World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative provides an opportunity to investigate the prevalence, course, impairment, socio-demographic correlates, comorbidity, and treatment of this condition across a range of high, middle, and low income countries in different geographic regions of the world, and to address the question of whether differences in SAD merely reflect differences in threshold for diagnosis. Data from 28 community surveys in the WMH Survey Initiative, with 142,405 respondents, were analyzed. We assessed the 30-day, 12-month, and lifetime prevalence of SAD, age of onset, and severity of role impairment associated with SAD, across countries. In addition, we investigated socio-demographic correlates of SAD, comorbidity of SAD with other mental disorders, and treatment of SAD in the combined sample. Cross-tabulations were used to calculate prevalence, impairment, comorbidity, and treatment. Survival analysis was used to estimate age of onset, and logistic regression and survival analyses were used to examine socio-demographic correlates. SAD 30-day, 12-month, and lifetime prevalence estimates are 1.3, 2.4, and 4.0% across all countries. SAD prevalence rates are lowest in low/lower-middle income countries and in the African and Eastern Mediterranean regions, and highest in high income countries and in the Americas and the Western Pacific regions. Age of onset is early across the globe, and persistence is highest in upper-middle income countries, Africa, and the Eastern Mediterranean. There are some differences in domains of severe role impairment by country income level and geographic region, but there are no significant differences across different income level and geographic region in the proportion of respondents with any severe role impairment. Also, across countries SAD is associated with specific socio-demographic features (younger age, female gender, unmarried status, lower education, and lower income) and with similar patterns of comorbidity. Treatment rates for those with any impairment are lowest in low/lower-middle income countries and highest in high income countries. While differences in SAD prevalence across countries are apparent, we found a number of consistent patterns across the globe, including early age of onset, persistence, impairment in multiple domains, as well as characteristic socio-demographic correlates and associated psychiatric comorbidities. In addition, while there are some differences in the patterns of impairment associated with SAD across the globe, key similarities suggest that the threshold for diagnosis is similar regardless of country income levels or geographic location. Taken together, these cross-national data emphasize the international clinical and public health significance of SAD.

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X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 12 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 612 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 612 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 86 14%
Student > Master 73 12%
Student > Ph. D. Student 58 9%
Researcher 47 8%
Other 28 5%
Other 100 16%
Unknown 220 36%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 174 28%
Medicine and Dentistry 73 12%
Neuroscience 22 4%
Social Sciences 18 3%
Nursing and Health Professions 17 3%
Other 51 8%
Unknown 257 42%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 59. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 03 May 2023.
All research outputs
#698,064
of 24,892,887 outputs
Outputs from BMC Medicine
#486
of 3,882 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#14,783
of 321,630 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Medicine
#9
of 51 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,892,887 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 97th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,882 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 45.2. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 321,630 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 51 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 84% of its contemporaries.