Age and sex dependencies of anxiety and depression in cardiologic patients compared with the general population

Objective: The aim of this study was to test age and sex effects on anxiety and depression using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale HADS. Method: Sample 1 consisted of 2037 subjects of the German general population, and sample 2 comprised 2696 cardiologic patients. Results: In the group of the general population we observed a linear increase of depression and (to a lower extent) of anxiety with age. In contrast to that, the patients reached their anxiety and depression maxima in the range of 50 to 60 years, with decreasing mean values for older patients. This effect was observed in both sexes and was proved by an ANOVA interaction between age category and population (P<0.001). In the age range over 70 years the mean depression scores of the patients were even lower than those of the general population. Especially high anxiety and depression scores were found for retired males under 60 years of age. Conclusion: Premature retirement is associated with anxiety and depression in cardiologic patients which partly accounts for the different age effects of the samples. Longitudinal studies are needed to explain the underlying mechanisms of the age effects in more detail.