Objective To examine the prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and its associations with sociodemographic and health factors. Methods A cross-sectional study with a population-based sample of 578 individuals aged 60 years or older from the Family Health Strategy (FHS) program of Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. Home visit screening and general data collection were made by trained Community Health Workers (CHWs). Diagnoses of psychiatric disorders were made by board-certified psychiatrists using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview plus (MINIplus) in the Hospital São Lucas of the Pontifical University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS). Results GAD was found in 9% of the sample (n = 52; CI 95% = 6.9-11.6). The main results of the multivariate analysis show associations between GAD and retirement (PR: 0.43, CI: 0.25-0.76), history of falls (PR: 2.52, CI: 1.42-4.49), cohabitation with four or more people (PR: 1.80, CI: 1.04-3.13), having more than one hospitalization in the last year (PR: 2.53, CI: 1.17-5.48) and self-perception of health as regular (PR: 2.75, CI: 1.02-7.47). Retirement in the elderly shows 2.32x less risk of GAD, although confounding factors may have overestimated this finding and underestimated the association with female gender (PR: 1.61, CI: 0.83-3.10). Conclusions We estimate a high prevalence of GAD in this population. Associations were found between GAD and health self-perceived as regular, cohabitation with four or more people, history of falls and more than one hospitalization in the last year. These epidemiological data from the Family Health Strategy are important to develop further strategies for this age group that could improve the health care practice.

Along with cognitive disorders, depression has been a concern for mental health services due to its highly debilitating effect on the functioning and quality of life of the elderly. However, there is still little understanding of the cognitive alterations resulting from depression or of the difficult differential diagnosis with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). It is known that performance on cognitive tests is strongly influenced by education but few studies have been conducted involving low-educated populations.Objective: To evaluate the performance of elders with low education and no dementia on Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R) test and its cognitive domains, and compare patients with Current Major Depressive Episode (CMDE) against those without depressive symptoms. Methods:A retrospective, cross-sectional analytical study was conducted based on medical files of patients treated at the Cerebral Aging Clinic of the Hospital São Lucas of the PUCRS. The study included 116 individuals with low education (< 8 years of education) aged between 60 and 84 (69.6 ± 6.4) years, with MCDE (N = 41) and controls (N = 75). Results:No significant difference was observed between control and MCDE groups in median scores on the ACE-R, Mini-Mental State Examination, and the five cognitive domains. There was also no difference between the groups on separate analyses of results on the clock drawing test, the categorical verbal and phonological fluency test, and the naming test. Conclusion:The results of this study showed that depressive symptoms did not influence scores on the ACE-R tests conducted in elders with low education.

Objectives To describe the process of translating and adapting the Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ) from English into Brazilian Portuguese and to present the results of its test-retest reliability using the version developed for interview application. Methodology The process was based on the guidelines of the International Society for Pharmaeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), which propose 10 steps for the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of self-administered instruments. The original authors of the RSQ have agreed to the translation. The interview version was applied to a sample of 43 healthy elders (≥60 years old) enrolled in a primary health care program in the city of Porto Alegre, state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, and then reapplied. The scores of the two applications were compared using the paired sample t-test. Results Only 6 of the 30 items required the adaptation of words or expressions to maintain its conceptual and semantic equivalence. The self-administered form of the RSQ posed difficulties for elders due to visual deficiencies and lower education level, both common in this age group, demonstrating a need for the development of a version of the RSQ in a structured interview format. Only the measure for secure attachment presented significant differences after the application of the retest, indicating reliability of the version being proposed. Conclusion Translation of the RSQ is the first step towards the validation of an attachment evaluation instrument for use in the elderly population in Brazil, allowing for future studies on this topic.

Objective: To study the psychometric characteristics of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE-BR) using a sample of low income elderly persons with a low educational level, and compare the full and short versions of the questionnaire. Method: A cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of a population with a low educational level was performed. The IQCODE-BR was applied to the informants of 87 elderly persons (60-90 years old), who were triaged by psychiatrists and neurologists for the diagnosis of depression, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia. Results: The median age of the sample was 72 and the majority were women (72.4%). A total of 31 (35.6%) were illiterate, 30 (34.5%) had dementia, 21 (24.1%) suffered from depression, 20 (23.0%) had MCI, and 16 (18.4%) were diagnosed with none of these conditions. The median IQCODE-BR was higher in the groups with depression and MCI than the normal group, and was highest of all in the group with dementia. The full and reduced versions of the IQCODE-BR had similar levels of accuracy. Conclusion: In this sample the IQCODE-BR was shown to be an effective tool for tracking MCI and dementia. The use of the short version with cutoff points of 3.22 for MCI excluding a diagnosis of depression, and 3.48 for dementia irrespective of the presence of symptoms of depression, is suggested.

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