Relationship between clinical variables and symptomatic anxiety in late-life depression.

The authors asked whether anxiety that is symptomatic of late-life depression is associated with clinical variables besides depression and, if so, how much of the variance is explained by this association. Severity of anxiety in 101 elderly patients with major depression was measured at index assessment and at antidepressant response. The following clinical variables were selected to determine whether they were associated with severity of anxiety: depression severity, burden of chronic physical illness, cognitive functioning, negative life events, life difficulties, and intensity of psychosocial support. Anxiety had a statistically significant association with severity of depression and life events at index assessment and with severity of depression and life difficulties at antidepressant response. In linear-regression models, depression severity accounted for the largest proportion of the variance in anxiety at both index assessment and response; life events and life difficulties accounted for only 3% and 4% of variance, respectively. In this group of elderly depressed patients, medical burden, cognitive impairment, and negative psychosocial circumstances did not contribute in a clinically significant way to variance in severity of symptomatic anxiety.