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Context: The scarcity of cross-national reports and the changes in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual version 5 (DSM-5) regarding panic disorder (PD) and panic attacks (PAs) call for new epidemiological data on PD and PAs and its subtypes in the general population.Objective: To present representative data about the cross-national epidemiology of PD and PAs in accordance with DSM-5 definitions.Design and Setting: Nationally representative cross-sectional surveys using the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview version 3.0.Participants: Respondents (n = 142,949) from 25 high, middle, and lower-middle income countries across the world aged 18 years or older.Main Outcome Measures: PD and presence of single and recurrent PAs.Results: Lifetime prevalence of PAs was 13.2% (SE 0.1%). Among persons that ever had a PA, the majority had recurrent PAs (66.5%; SE 0.5%), while only 12.8% fulfilled DSM-5 criteria for PD. Recurrent PAs were associated with a subsequent onset of a variety of mental disorders (OR 2.0; 95% CI 1.8-2.2) and their course (OR 1.3; 95% CI 1.2-2.4) whereas single PAs were not (OR 1.1; 95% CI 0.9-1.3 and OR 0.7; 95% CI 0.6-0.8). Cross-national lifetime prevalence estimates were 1.7% (SE 0.0%) for PD with a median age of onset of 32 (IQR 20-47). Some 80.4% of persons with lifetime PD had a lifetime comorbid mental disorder.Conclusions: We extended previous epidemiological data to a cross-national context. The presence of recurrent PAs in particular is associated with subsequent onset and course of mental disorders beyond agoraphobia and PD, and might serve as a generic risk marker for psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although social anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders in epidemiological surveys, concepts of social anxiety have varied from time to time and place to place. In recent years, however, similar assessments and treatments have been utilized across the world., Methods: In this paper, current concepts of SAD in the West and the partially related condition known as taijin kyofusho (TKS) in the East are summarized, and trials of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) that have been undertaken in both the United States/Europe and in Japan for social anxiety symptoms are reviewed., Results: Despite differences in the conceptualization of SAD and TKS, social anxiety is a prevalent symptom in many parts of the world. Fluvoxamine is more effective than placebo in randomized controlled trials of SAD in the West and the East., Conclusions: Patients suffering from SAD in different parts of the world share many features in common, and certain SSRIs are an effective treatment for this condition globally.