U.S. women have a higher burden of serious psychological distress than men across all adult age groups, including in people aged 65 years and older, according to a new analysis of National Health Interview Survey responses.
The data, from 2021, showed that 3.7% of adults aged 18 years and older had serious psychological distress within the past 30 days. Percentages were 4.6% among women and 2.7% among men overall. In seniors, 2.8% of women reported serious psychological problems when compared to 1.7% of men.
Notably, the percentage of women whose distress was rated as serious in the past 30 days decreased with age. Among men, serious psychological distress was higher among those aged 18 to 44 and 45 to 64 years than it was among those aged 65 years or older.
Serious psychological distress was calculated based on responses to six questions beginning with the prompt, “During the past 30 days, how often did you feel.” Respondents choose from pre-set answers about the amount of time they spent feeling the following: so sad that nothing could cheer you up; nervous; restless or fidgety; hopeless; that everything was an effort or worthless.
Screen for depression
Screening for and treating depression in older adults is key to health maintenance and quality of life, according to numerous studies. Older adults with depression are more than five times more likely to experience decline in activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living than their peers without the condition, one recent study has found.
The new results were published in the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
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