Age differences in symptoms of depression and anxiety: examining behavioral medicine outpatients.
This study examined whether symptoms of depression and concomitant anxiety differed between older and younger medical outpatients referred to a behavioral medicine clinic. In a sample of 178 male veterans aged 21-83 years, older adults (> or = 60 years) reported lower overall depressive symptoms on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and anxiety symptoms on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory than did younger adults ( < 60 years). Depressive symptoms were highly prevalent. Among older adults, 60.0% scored 10 or higher on BDI and 33.8% scored 16 or higher. Among younger adults, 70.8% scored 10 or higher on BDI, and 48.7% scored 16 or higher. The age difference in overall depressive symptoms was driven by cognitive-affective symptoms. While older adults had lower cognitive-affective symptoms than did younger adults, the two groups did not differ on somatic-performance symptoms. these results suggest the importance of assessing cognitive-affective depressive symptoms in both older and younger male medical outpatients.
Goldberg
Jennifer H
JH
Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA. jennifer.goldberg@stanford.edu
Breckenridge
James N
JN
Sheikh
Javaid I
JI
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods; D002140:California; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index