Research highlights a significant correlation between persistent and newly developed anxiety and a higher dementia risk in older adults, suggesting that effective anxiety management could help mitigate this risk.
In a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, both chronic and new anxiety were associated with an increased risk of dementia. However, where anxiety had resolved, there was no association with dementia risk.
The study included 2,132 individuals with an average age of 76 years who were participating in the Hunter Community Study in Australia and who were followed for an average of 10 years. The presence of chronic anxiety and new onset anxiety were associated with 2.8- and 3.2-times higher risks of having dementia, respectively. Even higher risks were seen in adults with anxiety before the age of 70 years. People whose anxiety resolved did not have a higher dementia risk than people without current or past anxiety.
“While this sort of question cannot be subject to a randomized controlled trial, this prospective cohort study used causal inference methods to explore the role of anxiety in promoting the development of dementia,” said corresponding author Kay Khaing, MMed, of the University of Newcastle. “The findings suggest that anxiety may be a new risk factor to target in the prevention of dementia and also indicate that treating anxiety may reduce this risk.”
Reference: “The effect of anxiety on all-cause dementia: A longitudinal analysis from the Hunter Community Study” by Kay Khaing, Xenia Dolja-Gore, Balakrishnan R. Nair, Julie Byles and John Attia, 24 July 2024, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
DOI: 10.1111/jgs.19078
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4 Comments
Don’t worry, be happy, then.
This study does not consider the cause of the anxiety. Sometimes, anxiety is a rational response to life events or anticipated events, and sometimes it’s a mental health problem. I also imagine that elderly people have more anxiety about getting dementia the older they get, and taking the psychological tests used in this study can create anxiety over the results. So there is lots of uncertain data used. There is also no consideration of the impact of pharmaceuticals in creating anxiety and dementia, which is an issue for people in older age groups. If you read the study, it’s a black box of numerous statistical methods that you need to accept on faith. Unreliable results, in my opinion. Clearly, people need to deal with anxiety with or without a link to dementia. It’s also possible that there is a form of psychogenic dementia resulting from the stress and anxiety of getting old, which could differ from organic dementia.
Free will exists. Change my mind says skeptic.
Interesting research linking anxiety and dementia. Understanding these findings could be a step toward better mental health care.