European or North American woman under 35 years of age . According to a review of the scientific literature that exists on anxiety, carried out by scientists from the University of Cambridge, those who belong to this population group have many more ballots of suffering a psychological disorder that is characterized by excess worry, fear and the tendency to reject potentially stressful situations.
As can be read in the journal Brain and Behavior , Cambridge experts have examined 1,200 studies from around the world to select the 48 that they considered suitable for their quality criteria. His first conclusion is that the percentage of people suffering from anxiety around the world hardly changed between 1990 and 2010: it is around 4% . The United States is the country with the most affected, with an 8% prevalence, while only three out of every one hundred inhabitants of Asia suffer from it.
Regarding sex and age, women are twice as likely to suffer from this disorder , while the incidence also soars among people who have not reached 35 years of age , regardless of gender.
Another important risk factor is suffering from certain diseases: one in ten patients with cardiovascular ailments, for example, must also deal with anxiety . One of its variants, obsessive compulsive disorder, has also been found to be especially prevalent in pregnant women.
“Data collection indicates that anxiety hits all population groups, although women and young people are disproportionately affected. On the other hand, patients with chronic diseases are at higher risk of suffering from it, which places a double burden on their lives ”, sums up Olivia Remes, lead author of the work.
