Anxiety symptoms in 74+ community-dwelling elderly: associations with physical morbidity, depression and alcohol consumption.

OBJECTIVE: Anxiety among community-dwelling older adults has not been studied sufficiently. The aims of this cross-sectional population-based study were to estimate the point prevalence of clinically relevant anxiety symptoms and to describe their socio-demographic and clinical features, with particular focus on the association with somatic illnesses. METHODS: Three-hundred-sixty-six non-demented older adults (mean age 83.7±6.2, range 74-99 years) from the Faenza Project (Northern Italy) were assessed using the Cambridge Mental Disorders of the Elderly Examination-Revised (CAMDEX-R) and the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory short form (GAI-sf). Multi-adjusted regression analyses were used to estimate Odds Ratio (OR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (95% CI). RESULTS: Clinically relevant anxiety symptoms occurred in one out of five participants (point prevalence 21.0%) and were significantly associated with depression (OR 5.6 per rank; 95% CI: 3.1-10.1), physical morbidity (OR 3.5 per illness; 95% CI: 1.0-11.9) and female gender (OR 2.8; 95% CI: 1.4-5.5). Further, there were significant associations with a consumption of alcohol exceeding 1 alcoholic unit/day. CONCLUSIONS: Anxiety symptoms are very common in older subjects, especially when medically ill. Depression and alcohol consumption often co-occur with late-life anxiety symptoms, thus requiring special attention in daily clinical practice.

Association between Sirtuin 2 gene rs10410544 polymorphism and depression in Alzheimer's disease in two independent European samples.

Among the several genes associated with late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD), recently, Sirtuin genes have roused a growing interest because of their involvement in metabolic homeostasis and in brain aging. Particularly SIRT2 gene has been associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) as well as with mood disorders. The aim of this study is to investigate the possible associations between Sirtuin 2 gene (SIRT2) rs10410544 polymorphism and AD as well as depression in AD. In addition, we performed some exploratory analyses to investigate possible associations between the rs10410544 genotype and clinical features. We investigated these associations in two independent samples: the first one was composed of 275 Greek inhabitants and 117 patients; the second sample counted 181 Italian people and 43 patients. All patients were affected by LOAD. We failed to find any association between rs10410544 genotype and AD in the two samples. On the other hand, we found an association between the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and depressive symptomatology (in the total sample p = 0.002), which was modulated by the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) values. Particularly, TT genotype seems to be protective versus depression. Finally, in the exploratory analyses, we found that the TT genotype was associated with earlier AD onset and a longer duration of the illness. In conclusion, we confirmed the association between SIRT2 gene and mood disturbances, although in AD patients. Further, we provided evidence that the TT genotype may be protective versus depressive symptoms, allowing an easier and thus earlier diagnosis of AD. This awareness may lead to a more detailed approach to these patients concerning diagnosis and therapy.

Pet therapy in elderly patients with mental illness.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the effects of pet therapy on cognitive function, mood and perceived quality of life on elderly inpatients (mean age 84.7 years; 95.2% women) affected by dementia, depression and psychosis. METHODS: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and 15-items Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were administered to 10 patients (pet group) and 11 controls (control group) together with a self-perceived quality-of-life questionnaire, before and after a pet therapy intervention that lasted 6 weeks. MMSE and GDS mean scores were compared between and within groups by Student's t-test. RESULTS: Both the pet group and control group improved on GDS and MMSE. Within the pet group, GDS symptoms decreased by 50% (from 5.9 to 2.7, P= 0.013), whereas mean MMSE score increased by 4.5 (P= 0.060). The between group comparison showed a positive effect of pet therapy intervention on GDS (P= 0.070). Most of the participants reported an improvement of their perceived quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Pet therapy is efficient in improving depressive symptoms and cognitive function in residents of long-term care facilities with mental illness.

Vision and hearing impairments are associated with depressive--anxiety syndrome in Italian elderly.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between vision and hearing impairment and depressive-anxiety syndrome in a large population participating in the Faenza Project, Northern Italy. METHOD: The study population consisted of 7389 participants not affected by dementia, 4408 (59.7%), of whom were women, mean age ± standard deviation (±SD) 71.9 (±7.7) years. Information about previous or current psychiatric symptoms, including sleeping and eating habits, non-verbal language and ability in activity of daily living was used to investigate depressive and anxiety syndrome. A semi-structured interview was administered to survey the presence of sensory impairment. Logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between sensory impairment and depressive-anxiety syndrome estimating Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). RESULTS: The prevalence of vision and hearing impairment was 1.4% and 0.2%, respectively, with an increasing trend in people aged 75+ years (p < 0.001). The prevalence of depressive syndrome was higher among vision-impaired participants (20.2% vs. 9.3%, p < 0.001), especially women (22.9%) and persons aged 75+ years (22.1%). The prevalence of anxiety syndrome was higher in the hearing-impaired group (25.0% vs. 11.0%, p = 0.09). Vision-impaired participants, especially women and participants aged 75+ years had have a twofold higher probability to have depressive syndrome (OR = 2.03, 95% CI = 1.21-3.38), and hearing-impaired individuals showed an increased probability of presenting anxiety syndrome (OR = 2.71, 95% CI = 0.86-8.55), although these results were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: This study's findings suggest that sensory impairment in older adults can increase their probability of experiencing depressive and anxiety syndrome. Correction of these deficits could improve the quality of life in this population.