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Published on: July 19, 2017
Anxiety Disorders in Williams Syndrome Contrasted with Intellectual Disability and the General Population: A
R Royston1, P Howlin2,3, J Waite4
1The Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. rxr180@bham.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Individuals with specific genetic syndromes associated with intellectual disability (ID), such as Williams syndrome (WS), are at increased risk for developing anxiety disorders. A systematic literature review identified sixteen WS papers that could generate pooled prevalence estimates of anxiety disorders for WS. A meta-analysis compared these estimates with prevalence estimates for the heterogeneous ID population and the general population. Estimated rates of anxiety disorders in WS were high. WS individuals were four times more likely to experience anxiety than individuals with ID, and the risk was also heightened compared to the general population. The results provide further evidence of an unusual profile of high anxiety in WS.
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