Gender differences among patients with social phobia in Egypt

Background: Social Phobia (SP) has been shown to be more prevalent in women than men in Western society (Kessler et al., 1994). Women also tend to have more environmental risk factors for social phobia compared to men (Xu et al., 2012). However, very few studies have been performed in the Arab countries in this context. The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of SP amongst patients attending the psychiatric outpatient clinics of Mansoura University Hospital, Egypt. Material and Methods: During the study period, a total of 3572 psychiatric outpatients were recorded in the clinic and 52 patients (24 males, 28 females) satisfied the DSM-IV criteria for the diagnosis of SP. We also assessed gender differences amongst the SP group in such factors as rates of attendance, socio-demographic characteristics, comorbidities, severity of SP and early adverse factors. Results: Social phobia was found in 1.5% of the sample (0.7% in males, 0.8% females). Female patients were less likely to report physical or sexual abuse as compared to males. There was no difference in comorbidity patterns or suicidality among patients with SP in relation to gender. Conclusions: Although our sample is not representative of the whole Egyptian population, we conclude that prevalence of social phobia is similar in men and women. Females with social phobia reported lower rates of sexual abuse and similar comorbidity patterns or suicidality. Further studies assessing practice approaches to diagnose and treat social phobia should be tailored in an Arabic context to help detection of early adverse environmental risk factors particularly those related to sexuality or personal issues.