Characteristics of the first 1000 clients attending an anxiety clinic in South West Sydney

This paper reports on the clinical and demographic characteristics of the first 1000 consecutive patients attending an anxiety disorders clinic at a district hospital in Sydney, Australia. Data from a large epidemiological study of the Australian population were used as a yardstick for broad comparison. Contrary to past research, a lower prevalence of comorbid anxiety and depression was found in the clinic, possibly because a portion of those patients were filtered out and referred elsewhere for treatment for depression. More female patients attended the clinic than the epidemiological study would predict. Greater numbers of patients with panic disorder, and fewer with posttraumatic stress disorder and social phobia were seen in the clinic than would be predicted by the epidemiological data. Although inferences are tentative because of the differing methods of diagnosis used, the findings indicate the value of comparing epidemiological and clinic profiles to identify those categories of anxiety patients that underutilise services.