Anxiety Disorders in the Elderly: Prevalence, profile and associated factors in an outpatient clinic for Geriatric Psychiatry in Porto Alegre, Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Bellora, Roberta Magalhães
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Sgnaolin, Vanessa, Engroff, Paula, Dannebrock, Letícia Güenter, Diefenthaeler, Edgar Chagas, Neto, Alfredo Cataldo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: PAJAR - Pan American Journal of Aging Research
• Texto Completo: https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/ojs/index.php/pajar/article/view/40528
• topic: aged; geriatric psychiatry; anxiety disorders; anciano; psiquiatria geriátrica; transtornos de ansiedad; idoso; psiquiatria geriátrica; transtornos de ansiedade

Aims: to describe the prevalence of anxiety disorders and to evaluate the profile and associated factors in a sample of elderly people seen at the geriatric psychiatric outpatient clinic of a hospital in Porto Alegre, Brazil.Methods: this is a cross-sectional study that evaluated 69 elderly people diagnosed with anxiety disorders, seen at the geriatric psychiatric outpatient clinic, from 2014 to 2019.Results: the prevalence of anxiety disorders was 21.9% and the average age 73.4 ± 8.7 years. There was a predominance of female individuals (81.2%), with 5 to 8 years of study (33.8%), married (47.7%) and residents of Porto Alegre (65.2%). Regarding clinical variables, the highest frequency of the elderly did not have a family history of illness or psychiatric hospitalization. Of the total, 92.6% reported having some clinical comorbidity, with cardiovascular diseases being the most frequent (69.8%). The main psychiatric drugs used were antidepressants (66.7%) and benzodiazepines (44.9%).Conclusions: anxiety disorders are frequent among the elderly. Thus, further studies in the geriatric population and standardization of assessment tools are needed.