Abstract
Anxiety disorders are leading contributors to the global disease burden, highly prevalent across the lifespan and associated with substantially increased morbidity and early mortality. The aim of this study was to examine age-related changes across a wide range of physiological measures in middle-aged and older adults with a lifetime history of anxiety disorders compared with healthy controls. The UK Biobank study recruited >500 000 adults, aged 37-73, between 2006 and 2010. We used generalised additive models to estimate non-linear associations between age and hand-grip strength, cardiovascular function, body composition, lung function and heel bone mineral density in a case group and in a control group. The main data-set included 332 078 adults (mean age 56.37 years; 52.65% females). In both sexes, individuals with anxiety disorders had a lower hand-grip strength and lower blood pressure, whereas their pulse rate and body composition measures were higher than in the healthy control group. Case-control group differences were larger when considering individuals with chronic and/or severe anxiety disorders, and differences in body composition were modulated by depression comorbidity status. Differences in age-related physiological changes between females in the anxiety disorder case group and healthy controls were most evident for blood pressure, pulse rate and body composition, whereas this was the case in males for hand-grip strength, blood pressure and body composition. Most differences in physiological measures between the case and control groups decreased with increasing age. Findings in individuals with a lifetime history of anxiety disorders differed from a healthy control group across multiple physiological measures, with some evidence of case-control group differences by age. The differences observed varied by chronicity/severity and depression comorbidity.
Highlights
Anxiety disorders are leading contributors to the global disease burden, highly prevalent across the lifespan and associated with substantially increased morbidity and early mortality
Differences in age-related physiological changes between females in the anxiety disorder case group and healthy controls were most evident for blood pressure, pulse rate and body composition, whereas this was the case in males for hand-grip strength, blood pressure and body composition
Findings in individuals with a lifetime history of anxiety disorders differed from a healthy control group across multiple physiological measures, with some evidence of case–control group differences by age
Summary
Biobank study recruited >500 000 adults, aged 37–73, between 2006 and 2010. Study population The UK Biobank is a prospective study of >500 000 adults aged 37– 73 at baseline, recruited between 2006 and 2010. The study rationale and design have been described elsewhere.[17] Briefly, individuals. Registered with the UK National Health Service (NHS) and living within a ∼40 km radius of 1 of 22 assessment centres were invited to participate. Participants provided information on their sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle and medical history and underwent physical examination. Hospital in-patient records are available for most participants and primary care records are currently available for half of participants. A subset of 157 366 out of 339 092 invited participants (46%) completed an online follow-up mental health questionnaire (MHQ) between 2016 and 2017, covering 31% of all participants
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