Anxiety in the elderly and its relation with sociodemographic and clinical aspects

Objective: To identify the occurrence of anxiety in the elderly and to verify the relations between anxiety and clinical and sociodemographic variables. Methods: An exploratory descriptive study with a quantitative approach conducted in the geriatric outpatient clinic in the university hospital located in João Pessoa, Brazil. Data were collected using an instrument with sociodemographic and clinical variables, brief history of mental health and Geriatric Anxiety Inventory, applied to a sample of 80 elderly people. Results: The participants’ profile was female (77.5%), pardo (56.25%), Catholic (58.75%), incomplete basic education (47.5%), retired (90%) and living with relatives (58.75%). They presented severe anxiety (8.75%), mild/moderate anxiety (25.00%) and no anxiety (66.25%). Only the gender variable presented statistical significance in relation to the total score of the GAI, showing that women were more anxious with p-value = 0.0104. Conclusion: Most of the elderly presented low total score in the GAI, being classified as without anxiety. However, almost half of the participants used psychotropic drugs. This study identified a profile of elderly individuals more susceptible to the occurrence of anxiety, namely: low schooling, retired, low income and residing with their family members.