Anxiety Symptoms in 74+ Community-Dwelling Elderly: Associations with Physical Morbidity, Depression and Alcohol Consumption

OBJECTIVE: Anxiety among community-dwelling older adults has not been studied sufficiently. The aims of this cross-sectional population-based study were to estimate the point prevalence of clinically relevant anxiety symptoms and to describe their socio-demographic and clinical features, with particular focus on the association with somatic illnesses. METHODS: Three-hundred-sixty-six non-demented older adults (mean age 83.7±6.2, range 74–99 years) from the Faenza Project (Northern Italy) were assessed using the Cambridge Mental Disorders of the Elderly Examination-Revised (CAMDEX-R) and the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory short form (GAI-sf). Multi-adjusted regression analyses were used to estimate Odds Ratio (OR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (95% CI). RESULTS: Clinically relevant anxiety symptoms occurred in one out of five participants (point prevalence 21.0%) and were significantly associated with depression (OR 5.6 per rank; 95% CI: 3.1–10.1), physical morbidity (OR 3.5 per illness; 95% CI: 1.0–11.9) and female gender (OR 2.8; 95% CI: 1.4–5.5). Further, there were significant associations with a consumption of alcohol exceeding 1 alcoholic unit/day. CONCLUSIONS: Anxiety symptoms are very common in older subjects, especially when medically ill. Depression and alcohol consumption often co-occur with late-life anxiety symptoms, thus requiring special attention in daily clinical practice.