title: Clinical staging and profiling of late-life anxiety disorders; the need for collaboration and a life-span perspective.
abstract: Clinical staging and profiling is a diagnostic strategy that goes beyond the traditional dichotomy in medicine of merely focusing on the presence or absence of a disease. Disease staging extends this traditional dichotomy by defining where a patient lies along the continuum of the course of his or her particular illness. Successful examples include the general tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) classification in oncology, as well as the New York Heart Association (NYHA classes I-IV) functional classification system for patients with congestive heart failure. It enables clinicians to select treatments relevant to earlier stages because such interventions may be more effective and less harmful than treatments delivered later in the illness course. Profiling is a further refinement, as well as a necessary component of staging. Profiling refers to the characterization of a patient within a specific disease stage, which is relevant for its course and treatment choice. An example of profiling is estrogen receptor positivity in patients with breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: University Center for Psychiatry,University Medical Center Groningen,University of Groningen,NL-9713 AV,Groningen,the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Richard C Oude
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Voshaar
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology,The University of Queensland,Brisbane,Australia.
authors.forename: Aartjan T F
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Beekman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry & (EMGO) Institute for Health and Care Research,VU University Medical Center,Amsterdam,the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pachana
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003863:Depression; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors