Reviews in Clinical Gerontology

Table of Contents - August 2012 - Volume 22, Issue 03  

Neuropsychiatry of old age

Anxiety disorders in older people

James Lindesaya1 c1, Robert Stewarta2 and Jatinder Bislaa2

a1 University of Leicester, UK

a2 King's College London (Institute of Psychiatry), London, UK

Summary

This article reviews the research into anxiety disorders in adults aged 65 years and older that has been published over the past ten years. The topics covered include: the construct of anxiety and its disorders in this age group; epidemiology, including prevalence, incidence, course, outlook, and risk factors; assessment scales; co-morbidity and differential diagnosis (depression, dementia, physical illness); and management, both pharmacological and non-pharmacological. There has been a significant improvement in our understanding of these disorders in older adults over this period, but evidence to support their treatment and prevention is still quite sparse.

(Online publication March 08 2012)

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Correspondence:

c1 Address for correspondence: Professor James Lindesay, Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital, Leicester LE5 4PW. Email: jebl1@le.ac.uk