The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a differe
nce in the long-term outcome between elderly patients with anxious dep
ression and those with non-anxious depression. Eighty-three patients w
ith non-bipolar, non-psychotic major depression who had responded to t
reatment of the index episode were maintained on full-dose antidepress
ant medication and followed on a monthly basis over a period of 2 year
s. Anxiety status at index assessment was not related to outcome as de
fined by rates of relapse and recurrence or time to these events. Howe
ver, the few patients who remained anxious at the point of remission o
f the index episode had a significantly shorter time to relapse/recurr
ence. These findings suggest that, once they achieve remission and are
given adequate prophylactic treatment, most older patients with anxio
us depression have a similar long-term outcome to patients without anx
iety. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.