Anxiety Sensitivity and the Anxiety Disorders: A Meta-Analytic Review and Synthesis

There has been significant interest in the role of anxiety sensitivity (AS) in the anxiety disorders. In this meta-analysis, we empirically evaluate differences in AS between anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and nonclinical controls. A total of 38 published studies ( N = 20,146) were included in the analysis. The results yielded a large effect size indicating greater AS among anxiety disorder patients versus nonclinical controls ( d = 1.61). However, this effect was maintained only for panic disorder patients compared to mood disorder patients ( d = 0.85). Panic disorder was also associated with greater AS compared to other anxiety disorders except for posttraumatic stress disorder ( d = 0.04). Otherwise the anxiety disorders generally did not differ from each other in AS. Although these findings suggest that AS is central to the phenomenology of panic disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder, causal inferences regarding the role of AS in these anxiety disorders cannot be made. Moderator analyses showed that a greater proportion of female participants was associated with larger differences in AS between anxiety and nonclinical control groups. However, more female participants were associated with a smaller AS difference between anxiety and mood disorder groups. This finding suggests that AS is less robust in distinguishing anxiety from mood disorders among women. Age also moderated some observed effects such that AS was more strongly associated with anxiety disorders in adults compared to children. Type of AS measure used also moderated some effects. Implications of these findings for the conceptualization of AS in anxiety-related disorders are discussed.