Anxiety as an outcome symptom of depression in elderly and middle‐aged adults

Early morning anxiety was reported as a symptom in 32.1% of 131 elderly and middle‐aged patients hospitalized for depression one to two years following hospitalization. Two‐thirds of those patients complaining of early morning anxiety also complained of anxiety at other times during the day. The demographic and system profile of subjects complaining of early morning anxiety did not differ on a variety of indices from subjects complaining of anxiety throughtou the day at follow‐up, except that early morning anxiety was associated with a less severe symptom profile at follow‐up. These results suggest that early morning anxiety is a less severe presentation of mixed depression/anxiety in patients who do not recover completely from an episode of major depression, regardless of age. Copyright © 1989 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Duke Scholars

Author Daniel German Blazer Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Behavioral Medicine & Neur ...