Older adults with chronic anxiety — especially those under age 70 — face a significant increase in all-cause dementia, according to a new study. The authors highlight the importance of managing anxiety in these high-risk groups.
Those with new onset anxiety had a higher risk for dementia as well, while people with resolved anxiety had similar risk of dementia, according to a study published on July 24 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Anxiety and dementia risk weren’t as closely linked in the other age groups studied, which included people 55 to 85.
Data came from 2,132 people in Australia. About half of the participants were women, and the average age was 76.
The study was conducted in two waves that were five years apart. Authors examined chronic anxiety, new onset anxiety and those whose anxiety had been resolved using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale to gauge levels of anxiety. The team also reviewed medical records and national health data to evaluate all-cause dementia. During the study, 64 participants developed dementia and 151 of them died.
“These findings point out the importance of the role of anxiety and its management and also point out the high-risk age group, enabling us to focus on managing anxiety for those at risk,” Kay Khaing, a researcher from the University of Newcastle in New Lambton, Australia, told MedPage Today.
“Our study tested the risk of dementia in different anxiety groups — chronic anxiety, new-onset anxiety, and resolved anxiety — whereas most previous studies assessed the risk of dementia and anxiety only at baseline,” Khaing said.
“People with anxiety are more likely to engage in unhealthy lifestyle behaviors including unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and smoking, which in turn can lead to cardiovascular disease, which is strongly associated with dementia,” the authors wrote. “Therefore, these are plausible direct and indirect mechanisms by which anxiety can increase the risk of dementia.”
