Are there gender differences in impairment associated with high social anxiety? A community-based study.

This comparative, cross-sectional community-based study examines sex differences in associations between various types of impairment and high level of social phobia/anxiety symptoms (SPAS) in adults aged 30, 40, and 45 years and their controls. Men with high SPAS had higher rates of non-paired relationships, alcohol problems, low intake of fruit/vegetables, risk for future fatal cardiac events, but lower rate for low annual income than women. The pattern of differences in impairment variables cases and controls did not show sex differences. Stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the socio-demographic and lifestyle impairment steps made significant contributions to the model which explained 41.6% of the variance. The individual variables significant at the last step were lower level of education, more smokers, less alcohol problems and lower risk of fatal cardiac events in women compared to men. In conclusion, few significant sex differences concerning impairment were observed in individuals with high SPAS.