Anxiety in adolescents attending Primary Care Centres in Catalonia

Introduction and objectives: the important biological changes develop during adolescence and influenced by socio-economic factors, which enable the human being to pass from a dependent childhood to an independent adult life, the anxiety may appear in its different varieties and forms of expression. Our objectives are determine the prevalence of anxiety in its different forms in a representative sample of adolescents in primary care centers. Methods and patient: autoadministration of STAIC test in a sample of 1,150 adolescents from 12-16 years of age, who have been visited in primary care centers in Catalonia from June 2002 to May 2003. Results: the 27% (IC95%: 24,4-29,6) of adolescents present anxiety of both types: 10,8% (IC95%: 9,1-12,7) anxiety a temporal state only and 16,2% (IC95%14,1-18,4) anxiety as a stable predisposition only or as a mixed form. Sex, age, reason for which they consult, monoparental families, brother?s number, place of birth, parents cultural level, all were factors which were associated, in a statistically significant form, with a greater prevalence of both varieties of anxiety. Conclusions: prevalence of anxiety in adolescents who visit primary care centers is high. There is an increase of cases depending on certain factors, such as sex, age, monoparental families, reasons for which they consult, brother?s number, place of birth and parents academic level; the knowledge of which can be useful to us in order to recognise risk factors in clinical practice.