Worry in Older Community-Residing Adults

Abstract

With rising longevity, increasing numbers of older people are experiencing changes in their everyday family and social life, changes in their financial status, and a greater number of chronic conditions affecting their health. We took the opportunity to explore these relationships with worry in a group of volunteer community-living elderly (n = 310). Findings showed that that those people under 75 years of age had a higher risk of worrying (OR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.0-3.1) compared to the older age groups. Women worried more than men and an important finding was that those with chronic health conditions such as arthritis of the hip and knee were more prone to worry than those who were healthy or had acute conditions (OR = 3.5, 95% CI = 1.4-8.9). This latter finding suggests the importance placed on the role of the hip and knee in maintaining functional capacity to perform life skills.

Terminal change across facets of affective experience and domain satisfaction: Commonalities, differences, and bittersweet emotions at the end of life.

“…As expected, health emerged as an important factor for late-life affect and satisfaction in that, for example, more frequent visitation with physicians and (increases in) disability were both associated with greater fear (Brock et al, 2011). A pattern seen for the first time here was that being overweight may operate as a risk factor for end-of-life emotionality (steeper increases in sadness and steeper declines in happiness).…”

The relative importance of cancer‐related and general health worries and distress among older adult, long‐term cancer survivors

“…They also found that health‐related worry was approximately twice as high among older adults who had general anxiety disorder, further documenting an empirical link between health worries and anxiety in older adults. Other research found that those with chronic health conditions worried more than those with acute health conditions . This is particularly relevant for long‐term cancer survivors who may continue to experience chronic effects of cancer or its treatment.…”

Geriatric Anxiety Scale: item response theory analysis, differential item functioning, and creation of a ten-item short form (GAS-10)

“…Sub-syndromal anxiety symptoms in late life are even more prevalent than formal anxiety disorders, with prevalence estimates ranging from 15% to 52.3% in community samples (Bryant et al ., 2008). There is a unique set of challenges associated with the assessment of anxiety in late life, including the co-occurrence of anxiety with physical health problems (e.g., Brock et al ., 2011; Murphy et al ., 2012), with other mental health problems such as depression (e.g., Cairney et al ., 2008), and with cognitive impairment (e.g., Yochim et al ., 2013). Such challenges highlight the necessity to use screening and assessment tools that are specifically designed for older adults and are well validated among older adult populations.…”