Scared to death: results from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition study.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to determine if anxiety is associated with mortality and if race moderates and depression mediates this relationship.


METHODS
Participants are 3,015 adults aged 70-79 years.


RESULTS
Anxiety symptoms were significant predictors of all-cause, cardiovascular, and noncardiovascular mortality among blacks but not whites. Depression was not related to mortality.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the mechanisms that underlie the relationship between anxiety and mortality are unknown, routine assessment of anxiety symptoms in clinical practice, particularly in black older adults, seems prudent.
Brenes
Gretchen A
GA
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. gbrenes@wfubmc.edu
Kritchevsky
Stephen B
SB
Mehta
Kala M
KM
Yaffe
Kristine
K
Simonsick
Eleanor M
EM
Ayonayon
Hilsa N
HN
Rosano
Caterina
C
Rubin
Susan M
SM
Satterfield
Suzanne
S
Penninx
Brenda W J H
BW
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D010414:Pennsylvania / Q000453:epidemiology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000523:psychology; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013714:Tennessee / Q000453:epidemiology