Anxiety and depression in the normal population aged above 60 years

Background: Anxiety and depression lead to extensive utilization of the hea lth service. Frequency and extent of symptoms of anxiety and depression wer e assessed in the elderly general population. Participants and method: In a random community sample of 622 elderly person s aged above 60 years (mean age 69.55 years; 56.1 % women), the frequency o f anxiety and depression was assessed by means of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Results: Probable anxiety was found in 7.6% of the elderly, probable depres sion in 27.5%, Negative affectivity (based on the total scale) was found in 31.7% of the elderly. Self-reported anxiety and depression symptoms correl ated to a considerable extent (r = 0.69). There were higher rates of probab le anxiety and depression in women than in men. However, a significant effe ct of the sex on anxiety and depression scores was not found. There was a s ignificant effect of age, with higher depression rates with increasing age. Anxiety and depression correlate significantly positively with the fatigue syndrome and with subjective bodily complaints and significantly negativel y with different aspects of quality of life. Conclusions: Physical complaints in the elderly cannot be directly traced b ack to age-correlated multimorbidity. Rather, elderly persons with nonspeci fic bodily complaints and fatigue should also be screened for anxiety and d epression.