Publication:
Health anxiety in Australia: prevalence, comorbidity, disability, and service use

dc.contributor.author Sunderland, Matthew en_US
dc.contributor.author Newby, Jill M. en_US
dc.contributor.author Andrews, Gavin en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2021-11-25T12:26:43Z
dc.date.available 2021-11-25T12:26:43Z
dc.date.issued 2013 en_US
dc.description.abstract Background: Health anxiety is associated with high distress, disability, and increased health service utilisation. However, there are relatively few epidemiological studies examining the extent of health anxiety or the associated socio-demographic and health risk factors in the general population. Aims: The current study aims to provide epidemiological data on health anxiety in the Australian population. Methods: Lifetime and current prevalence estimates, associations between comorbid disorders, psychological distress, impairment, disability, and mental health service utilisation were generated using the Australian 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. Results: Health anxiety affects approximately 5.7% of the Australian population across the lifespan and 3.4% currently met criteria for health anxiety at the time of the interview. Age, employment status, smoking status, and comorbid physical conditions were significantly related to health anxiety symptoms. Health anxiety was associated with significantly more distress, impairment, disability, and health service utilisation than respondents without health anxiety. Conclusions: Health anxiety is non-trivial; it affects a significant proportion of the population and further research and clinical investigation of health anxiety is required. en_US
dc.identifier.issn 1472-1465 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/52564
dc.language English
dc.language.iso EN en_US
dc.rights CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 en_US
dc.rights.uri https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ en_US
dc.source Legacy MARC en_US
dc.subject.other epidemiology en_US
dc.subject.other health anxiety en_US
dc.subject.other prevalence en_US
dc.title Health anxiety in Australia: prevalence, comorbidity, disability, and service use en_US
dc.type Journal Article en
dcterms.accessRights open access
dspace.entity.type Publication en_US
unsw.accessRights.uri https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
unsw.description.publisherStatement This is an author-produced electronic version of an article accepted for publication in the British Journal of Psychiatry. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at http://bjp.rcpsych.org Availability subject to 12 months embargo. Embargo period expired February, 2014. en_US
unsw.identifier.doiPublisher http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.111.103960 en_US
unsw.relation.faculty Medicine & Health
unsw.relation.ispartofissue 1 en_US
unsw.relation.ispartofjournal British Journal of Psychiatry en_US
unsw.relation.ispartofpagefrompageto 56-61 en_US
unsw.relation.ispartofvolume 202 en_US
unsw.relation.originalPublicationAffiliation Sunderland, Matthew, Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW en_US
unsw.relation.originalPublicationAffiliation Newby, Jill M., Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW en_US
unsw.relation.originalPublicationAffiliation Andrews, Gavin, Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW en_US
unsw.relation.school School of Psychiatry *
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