Summary Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental illness in Australia and are more common in women relative to men, as well as transgender and gender diverse people relative to cisgender people. Sex and gender differences in anxiety prevalence are likely driven by a combination of factors including differential exposure to different types of stressors and trauma, gendered enculturation of different coping responses and perceived stigma of mental illness, differences in medical comorbidities, and differences in symptom presentations. The established impact of gonadal hormone changes on anxiety risk and symptom presentation across the female lifespan underscore the need for sex‐ and gender‐responsive management of anxiety disorders. Better integration of sex and gender considerations in health and medical research, in Australian clinical practice guidelines, and in health and medical education curricula, is needed to improve the quality of care for all people with anxiety disorders.
Bronwyn M. Graham (Thu,) studied this question.