Psychosocial stress and anxiety in senile dementia

Seventy dementia patients in hospital and two control groups comprising 50 dementia sufferers in the community and 50 mentally fit elderly people, were investigated to determine which social factors such as life events were associated with the presence of anxiety symptoms. Very high levels of social contact, problems in the patient-carer relationship and high physical dependency were all associated with anxiety in the dementia sufferers. Independent severe threat life events were associated with anxiety in the dementia patient group. Multivariate analyses suggested that this link was mediated by depressive symptoms. The results suggest a number of social factors may lead to anxiety in dementia sufferers. This has implications for understanding how social factors relate to psychopathology in dementia. Clinicians should be more aware of anxiety in dementia and consider how social interventions may help reduce and alleviate distress.