Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Older people with intellectual disabilities (ID) may experience more and different symptoms of anxiety than older people with normal intelligence.
STUDY QUESTIONS: (1) Is the reported severity of anxiety in this group similar to that in the general older population; (2) Are specific anxiety symptoms reported as frequently by both groups?
DESIGN: Cross-sectional.
SETTING: Formal Dutch intellectual disability services and Dutch population-based study.
PARTICIPANTS: One hundred fifty-four participants of the Healthy Ageing and Intellectual Disability study with mild or moderate ID (IQ <70), aged 55-85 years, and 2,917 participants of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam with normal intelligence, aged 55-85 years.
MEASUREMENTS: The general anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.
RESULTS: Mean (standard deviation) Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale total score of subjects with ID was significantly higher than that of subjects with normal intelligence (3.53 [3.03]) versus 2.53 [3.30]; p <0.01), whereas the percentage of scores above cutoff in both groups was similar. Four of 7 items were more often reported as present by subjects with ID: "tense or wound up feelings," "frightened feelings," "worrying thoughts," and "sudden feelings of panic."
CONCLUSIONS: Older people with ID report more symptoms of anxiety than older people with normal intelligence. Tense feelings and worrying especially need more attention, because more than one-half of all older people with ID reported such symptoms.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1391-8 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry |
Volume | 22 |
Issue number | 12 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2014 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Aged
- Aged, 80 and over
- Aging/psychology
- Anxiety/epidemiology
- Cross-Sectional Studies
- Female
- Humans
- Intellectual Disability/epidemiology
- Intelligence/physiology
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Netherlands/epidemiology