Journal
JOURNAL OF AGING AND HEALTH
Volume 34, Issue 3, Pages 378-389Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/08982643221086065
Keywords
post-traumatic stress disorder; mental health services; gender; impairment; gerontology; functional status; COVID
Categories
Funding
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) [U01-MH57716]
- Career Development Award from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), VA Health Services Research and Development [CDA 19-233, IK2HX003090]
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities [MD 006,923]
- National Institute of Mental Health [MH115344]
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The study found that anxiety disorders in aging Black adults have a low prevalence, but those affected experience significant mental health burden, including severe functional impairment and underutilization of mental health services.
Objectives: To examine anxiety disorders in aging Black adults. Methods: Using nationally representative data from the National Survey of American Life, we estimated lifetime/12-month prevalence of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fourth Edition anxiety disorders in Black men and women, age 50+ (N = 1561). Disorder-specific persistence and severity, functional impairment, and mental health service utilization were investigated using multivariate regressions. Results: Black men and women who met criteria for anxiety disorders (lifetime prevalence=12.4%/18.3% in men/women) also demonstrated persistent disorders (percent meeting criteria = 40.3%-61.2%). Those with a 12-month anxiety disorder (6.2%/10.5% of men/women) typically reported severe task interference (38.3%-85.7%). Those with any 12-month anxiety disorder, compared to those without, experienced greater impairment in days out of role, work, family burden, cognition and, in women, mobility (p's < .05). Only 47.0%/65.2% of Black men/women with any lifetime anxiety disorder used mental health services. Discussion: Despite low prevalence, older Blacks with anxiety disorders experience substantial mental health burden in middle age and later.
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