Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
New researchEffect of Comorbidity on Treatment of Anxious Children and Adolescents: Results From a Large, Combined Sample
Section snippets
Participants
Eligible participants for the study were 866 children and adolescents 6 to 18 years old (plus their parents) who were treated using a standard structured treatment program at the Centre for Emotional Health at Macquarie University from 2000 through 2011. Approximately 69% of the children participated in randomized clinical trials,15, 16 and the remainder were treated in ongoing clinical services between trials. All participants in the authors’ service were told that they were receiving
Treatment Attendance and Missing Data
The total number of sessions attended by families did not differ significantly between groups (F3,642 = 0.3, p = .799). Means are presented in Table 1.
After treatment, 14.0% of the total sample failed to return data and there was a significant difference among groups (n = 750, χ23 = 12.83, p = .005): no comorbidity, 19.7%; anxiety only, 13.4%; externalizing, 6.7%; and mood disorders, 21.1%. At follow-up, 30.4% of participants failed to return data, and the difference among groups was no longer
Discussion
An interpretation of the present results needs to be qualified depending on the perspective from which they are viewed. The rate at which children improve is directly relevant to theory and clinical process. Most previous research has indicated that comorbid disorders do not adversely affect the rate of response to CBT in anxious children.4, 7, 9 Consistent with previous research, the results of the present study clearly fail to indicate that the existence of comorbid anxiety, mood, or
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Drs. Rapee, Lyneham, Hudson, Kangas, Wuthrich, and Schniering are with the Centre for Emotional Health, Macquarie University, Sydney.
This research was supported by different granting bodies, including the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Research Council, and Australian Rotary Health.
Disclosure: Drs. Rapee, Lyneham, Hudson, Kangas, Wuthrich, and Schniering report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.
This article can be used to obtain continuing medical education (CME) at www.jaacap.org.