Association between joint hypermobility and anxiety in Brazilian university students: Gender-related differences

• We studied the association between JHM and anxiety in university students.
• This association showed gender-related differences.
• Anxiety may play a role in extra-articular symptoms of hypermobility.

IntroductionAnxiety disorders may be associated with several non-psychiatric disorders. Current literature has been investigating the association between anxiety and joint hypermobility (JHM), with special interest in non-articular symptoms that may be related to autonomic dysfunction. This study investigated the association between anxiety and JHM in a sample of Brazilian university students.MethodsData were cross-sectionally collected in two Brazilian universities (N = 2600). Participants completed three validated self-rating anxiety scales: Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) and the brief-version of SPIN (Mini-SPIN). They also answered the self-rating screening questionnaire for JHM: the Five-part Questionnaire for Identifying Hypermobility.ResultsHypermobile women showed significantly higher scores in all the anxiety scales, when compared with men: BAI total score (t = 3.77; p < 0.001), its four subscales, SPIN score (t = 2.71; p < 0.007) and Mini-SPIN (t = 2.58; p < 0.01). Among BAI subscales, the autonomic subscale was shown to be more significantly (t = 3.89; p < 0.001) associated with joint hypermobility in women.ConclusionsThe results of the present study support earlier evidence on the relationship between anxiety and JHM in women, showing specific gender-related features in this field. It also directs attention to non-articular symptoms that may be enrolled in this association.