Citation

Nelson EC, Grant JD, Bucholz KK, Glowinski A, Madden PAF, Reich W, Heath AC. Psychol. Med. 2000; 30(4): 797-804.

Affiliation

Missouri Alcoholism Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis 63108, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Cambridge University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11037087

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This report attempted to replicate and extend prior work examining social phobia (SP), co-morbid psychiatric illnesses, and the risk of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts incurred by their adolescent sufferers. METHODS: SP, alcohol dependence (ALD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) diagnoses, and suicide-related symptoms, were assessed in a population-based adolescent female twin sample. The differentiation of risks as a function of co-morbidity was explored. A trivariate model was fitted to estimate sharing of genetic and environmental vulnerability between SP and co-morbid disorders. RESULTS: The lifetime prevalence of SP was 16.3 %. Significant risk for co-morbid MDD (OR = 3.2) and ALD (OR = 2.1) was observed. Strong evidence for shared genetic vulnerability between SP and MDD (respective heritabilities 28%, 45%; genetic r = 1.0) was observed with moderate support noted for similar sharing between SP and ALD (genetic r = 0.52, heritability for ALD 63%). SP with co-morbid MDD was associated with elevated risk for ALD and for suicide-related symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: SP is a common illness often followed by co-morbid MDD and ALD. SP with comorbid MDD predicts a substantially elevated risk of ALD and suicide-related symptoms, stressing the need for early SP detection.

Language: en