You may be able to improve outcomes
Published on Wed Nov 17, 2010
You may be able to improve outcomes in your patients with better recognition of anxiety disorders. And the National Institutes of Health wants to give you a helping hand. Anxiety disorders affect up to 14 percent of older adults, the NIH estimates. "Anxiety disorders can severely affect a person's life, and they are often overlooked in older adults," the NIH says in a release. "Conditions that commonly occur with age,such as depression, heart disease and diabetes, may have symptoms that mimic or mask anxiety symptoms, making diagnosis in older adults difficult," says physician Thomas R. Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. Patient-friendly information about anxiety disorders in the elderly is online at
www.nihseniorhealth.gov.