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Comparative Study
. 2009 Aug;197(8):623-6.
doi: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e3181b0c081.

Older adults are less accurate than younger adults at identifying symptoms of anxiety and depression

Julie Loebach Wetherell  1 , Andrew J Petkus, Kathleen McChesney, Murray B Stein, Patricia H Judd, Enid Rockwell, Daniel D Sewell, Thomas L Patterson
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Older adults are less accurate than younger adults at identifying symptoms of anxiety and depression

Julie Loebach Wetherell et al. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2009 Aug.

Abstract

The present study examined age differences in the identification of anxiety and depressive symptoms in a community sample of 374 adults, ages 18 to 93. Older adults were less accurate and more likely than younger adults to label symptoms as neither anxiety nor depression. Both older and younger adults were more accurate in their classification of depressive than anxiety symptoms. These findings suggest that additional efforts are needed to educate the general public, particularly older adults, about anxiety and its symptoms.

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References

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