High anxiety is associated with an increased risk of death in an older tri-ethnic population.
OBJECTIVE
The health consequences of anxiety in late life have not been adequately investigated. We sought to examine the association between anxiety and death in an older tri-ethnic population.


METHODS
A longitudinal population-based study of 506 older noninstitutionalized non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, and Hispanics aged 75 years or older from Galveston County.


RESULTS
Average age was 80.8 (SD 4.4) and 50.8% were women. Older non-Hispanic Whites (21.6%) reported the highest prevalence of anxiety, followed by Hispanics (12.4%) and non-Hispanic blacks (11.3%) (P=.0001). High anxiety was significantly associated with an increased hazard of all cause death (HR 1.52; 95% CI 1.02, 2.28) and cardiovascular death (HR 1.90; 95% CI 1.06, 3.36); and was associated with an increased hazard of cancer death (HR 2.38; 95% CI 0.88, 6.45) during 5-years of follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a high prevalence of anxiety in late life. Our results indicate an association between anxiety and increased risk of death in persons aged 75 and older.
Ostir
Glenn V
GV
Sealy Center on Aging, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555-0460, USA. gostir@utmb.edu
Goodwin
James S
JS
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001293:Attitude to Death; D044383:Black People / Q000523:psychology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D002423:Cause of Death; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology; D001741:Black or African American