1 In the United States and much of Europe, one in three selleck bio persons will be in this old-age demographic (compared with one in five today). It is increasingly clear that the common mental neverless disorders of emotion—anxiety disorders and unipolar depression—are a terrible scourge across the lifespan: they not only induce significant misery and suffering for Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the patient and

his/her whole family, but with increasing age they become increasingly deleterious to health and cognition, even increasing mortality risk in older adults. Given such deleterious effects, understanding the common mental disorders in this large and growing demographic would seem to be a question of some importance. The last decade has seen several advances in our knowledge of the epidemiology, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical course, and treatment of anxiety disorders, and how this changes into old age. Yet, even though anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders in older adults, there has been scant attention paid to some major issues regarding anxiety disorders in older adults. In this review, we present a lifespan view of anxiety disorders, primarily Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical from an aging perspective, but also with an examination of the changing picture of anxiety disorders and

their treatment throughout the lifespan from childhood to old age. This review will focus on three aspects of anxiety disorders: epidemiology, presentation, and treatment. One of the major arguments that will be advanced is that anxiety

disorders are common in older adults and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical cause considerable distress and functional impairment, and that, absent improvements in detection and management, geriatric anxiety disorders will become an increasing human and economic burden. We will also argue that much is known already about the optimal management of anxiety disorders across the lifespan into old age, such that practitioners could greatly improve outcomes of their patients Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical with these common problems even now, if they follow eight simple management steps which are outlined. Additionally, it will be obvious from reading this review that significant gaps remain in our understanding of many aspects of anxiety disorders, particularly in older adults. Throughout the review, we will point out these gaps in our knowledge, and we will finish with a brief prospectus on research that could begin Carfilzomib to fill these gaps. Epidemiology of anxiety disorders throughout the lifespan Table I shows prevalence estimates from several large epidemiologic studies that focused on elderly persons. As a whole, the studies suggest that generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the most common anxiety disorder and is as common, or more common, in older as in younger adults; other anxiety disorders are less common.