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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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Canadian clinical practice guidelines for the management of anxiety, posttraumatic stress and obsessive-compulsive disorders

TL;DR: These guidelines were developed by Canadian experts in anxiety and related disorders through a consensus process based on global impression of efficacy, effectiveness, and side effects, using a modified version of the periodic health examination guidelines.
Journal Article

Depression and anxiety.

TL;DR: The review of literature presents the conclusions of several meta-analyses that have reviewed psychosocial interventions for late-life depression and anxiety, and intervention studies concerning the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, reminiscence therapy, and alternative therapies with depressed and/or anxious older adults are reviewed.
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Benzodiazepine Use in the United States

TL;DR: More vigorous clinical interventions supporting judicious benzodiazepine use may be needed to decrease rates of long-term benzodiazine use in older adults.
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Social Network Type and Subjective Well-being in a National Sample of Older Americans

TL;DR: Social network type was found to be associated with each of the well-being indicators after adjusting for demographic and health confounders and can serve as a basis for risk assessment as well as a means for determining the efficacy of interventions.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Who is MADD? Mixed anxiety depressive disorder in the general population.

TL;DR: MADD is not a relevant diagnosis in terms of prevalence and consequences when classified according to the currently proposed criteria, and should not be added to separate classifications of pure subthreshold depression and anxiety.
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Phobic anxiety in late-life in relationship to cognition and 5HTTLPR polymorphism

TL;DR: It is suggested that phobic anxiety symptoms are significantly related to lower cognitive function and the interaction between age-related changes in cognition and anxiety remain an important area for future studies.
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In search of mixed anxiety-depressive disorder: a primary care study.

TL;DR: Primary care patients screened for anxiety and depression while visiting their doctor indicated that none had symptoms of depression and anxiety accompanied by interference that the patient deemed significant and attributable to his or her symptoms, dispute the need for a mixed anxiety–depression category in future editions of the DSM.
Journal ArticleDOI

Psychological treatment of older adults : an introductory text

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a review of the literature on older adults' mental health, focusing on depression in Alzheimer's disease and sexual dysfunction in older adults with dementia.
Journal ArticleDOI

Is aging preprogrammed? Observations from the brain/gut axis.

TL;DR: Analysis of brain and gut organ weight, total RNA, total protein and three peptides in Sprague-Dawley rats indicates that as rats age there is preprogrammed differential control of gene expression between brain and intestine.
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