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Anxiety disorders in older adults: a comprehensive review†

TLDR
Prevalence and symptom expression of anxiety disorders in late life, as well as risk factors, comorbidity, cognitive decline, age of onset, and treatment efficacy for older adults are reviewed.
Abstract
This review aims to address issues unique to older adults with anxiety disorders in order to inform potential changes in the DSM-V. Prevalence and symptom expression of anxiety disorders in late life, as well as risk factors, comorbidity, cognitive decline, age of onset, and treatment efficacy for older adults are reviewed. Overall, the current literature suggests: (a) anxiety disorders are common among older age individuals, but less common than in younger adults; (b) overlap exists between anxiety symptoms of younger and older adults, although there are some differences as well as limitations to the assessment of symptoms among older adults; (c) anxiety disorders are highly comorbid with depression in older adults; (d) anxiety disorders are highly comorbid with a number of medical illnesses; (e) associations between cognitive decline and anxiety have been observed; (f) late age of onset is infrequent; and (g) both pharmacotherapy and CBT have demonstrated efficacy for older adults with anxiety. The implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations for the DSM-Vare provided, including extending the text section on age-specific features of anxiety disorders in late life and providing information about the complexities of diagnosing anxiety disorders in older adults. Depression and Anxiety 27:190–211, 2010. r 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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The two-year incidence of depression and anxiety disorders in spousal caregivers of persons with dementia: who is at the greatest risk?

TL;DR: Indicators related to the caregiver's (mental) health rather than environmental stressors such as patient characteristics or interruption of caregivers' daily activities predict disorder onset and can be used to identify caregivers for whom supporting preventive interventions are indicated.
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Perceived stress and sleep quality among the non-diseased general public in China during the 2019 coronavirus disease: a moderated mediation model.

TL;DR: The findings suggest that both the sleep quality and perceived stress levels of the non-diseased general public required attention during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify personality characteristics related to better sleep quality, demonstrating the important role of self-esteem in environmental adaptation.
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Adding fuel to the fire: the impact of stress on the ageing brain

TL;DR: The similarities between behavioural changes during ageing and stress altered behaviours in rodents and humans are examined and how the already stressed aged brain psychologically and physiologically responds to external stressors is explored.
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Posttraumatic stress disorder in older adults: an overview of characteristics and treatment approaches.

TL;DR: Posttraumatic stress disorder is a common and disabling condition following a traumatic event in older adults and there has been little evaluation of the efficacy of psychotherapeutic treatment approaches for older patients.
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Systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between peripheral inflammatory cytokines and generalised anxiety disorder.

TL;DR: Preliminary evidence to suggest an inflammatory response in GAD, but it remains unclear whether inflammatory cytokines play a role in the aetiology.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication

TL;DR: Lifetime prevalence estimates are higher in recent cohorts than in earlier cohorts and have fairly stable intercohort differences across the life course that vary in substantively plausible ways among sociodemographic subgroups.
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One-month prevalence of mental disorders in the United States. Based on five Epidemiologic Catchment Area sites.

TL;DR: One-month prevalence results were determined from 18571 persons interviewed in the first-wave community samples of all five sites that constituted the National Institute of Mental Health Epidemilogic Catchment Area Program as mentioned in this paper.
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The effect of age on positive and negative affect : a developmental perspective on happiness

TL;DR: Findings lend support to recent life span theories of emotion and indicate that personality, contextual, and sociodemographic variables, as well as their interactions, are all needed to fully understand the age-affect relationship.
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Emotional experience in everyday life across the adult life span.

TL;DR: Age differences in emotional experience over the adult life span were explored, focusing on the frequency, intensity, complexity, and consistency of emotional experience in everyday life, and individual factor analyses computed for each participant revealed that age was associated with more differentiated emotional experience.
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Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents: Developmental Issues and Implications for DSM-V

TL;DR: Epidemiological evidence covering prevalence, incidence, course, and risk factors of anxiety disorders among children and adolescents is reviewed for improved early recognition and differential diagnosis as well as prevention and treatment.
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