Keri-Leigh Cassidy, MD, Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
Neil A. Rector, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.

Late-life anxiety can often be “silent”--missed or difficult to diagnose as older adults tend to somatize psychiatric problems; have multiple psychiatric, medical, and medication issues; and present anxiety differently than do younger patients. Yet late-life anxiety disorders are a “geriatric giant,” being twice as prevalent as dementia among older adults, and four to eight times more prevalent than major depressive disorders, causing significant impact on the quality of life, morbidity, and mortality of older adults. Treatment of late-life anxiety is a challenge given concerns about medication side effects in older, frail, or medically ill patients. Antidepressants are recommended but not always tolerated, and benzodiazepines are generally to be avoided in this population. Effective psychotherapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) are of particular interest for the older adult population, and the combination of CBT and medication is often needed to optimize treatment.
Key words: anxiety, late life, management, cognitive behavioural therapy.