High anxiety is associated with an increased risk of death in an older tri-ethnic population

Background and ObjectivesThe health consequences of anxiety in late life have not been adequately investigated. We sought to examine the association between anxiety and death in an older tri-ethnic population.MethodsA longitudinal population-based study of 506 older noninstitutionalized non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, and Hispanics aged 75 years or older from Galveston County.ResultsAverage age was 80.8 (SD 4.4) and 50.8% were women. Older non-Hispanic Whites (21.6%) reported the highest prevalence of anxiety, followed by Hispanics (12.4%) and non-Hispanic blacks (11.3%) (P = .0001). High anxiety was significantly associated with an increased hazard of all cause death (HR 1.52; 95% CI 1.02, 2.28) and cardiovascular death (HR 1.90; 95% CI 1.06, 3.36); and was associated with an increased hazard of cancer death (HR 2.38; 95% CI 0.88, 6.45) during 5-years of follow-up.ConclusionThere is a high prevalence of anxiety in late life. Our results indicate an association between anxiety and increased risk of death in persons aged 75 and older.