Nutritional Factors, Physical Health and Immigrant Status Are Associated with Anxiety Disorders among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Findings from Baseline Data of The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).

Karen M Davison,Jose G Mora-Almanza,Shen (Lamson) Lin,Hongmei Tong,Karen M Kobayashi,Esme Fuller-Thomson

doi:10.3390/ijerph17051493

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to compare the lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorders among foreign-born and Canadian-born adults in middle and later life. Using baseline data of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (2010–2015), multivariable binary logistic regression was conducted to investigate anxiety diagnosis and immigrant status, while controlling for socio-economic, health-related, and nutrition covariates. Of 26,991 participants (49.3% men, 82.5% Canadian born, 58.5% aged 45–65 years), the overall prevalence of self-reported physician diagnosis of anxiety disorders was 8.5%, with immigrants being lower than Canadian-born respondents (6.4% vs. 9.3%, p < 0.001). After accounting for all covariates, the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for anxiety disorders was lower among immigrants (aOR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.67–0.88) compared to those who were Canadian born. Identified risk factors included: younger age (aORs = 1.79–3.52), being a woman (aOR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.07–1.46), single status (aOR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.09–1.48), lower income (aORs = 1.28–2.68), multi-morbidities (aORs = 2.73–5.13), chronic pain (aOR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.18–1.44), lifetime smoking ≥ 100 cigarettes (aOR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.23–1.48), BMI < 18.5 (aOR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.20–2.92), body fat ≥ 26% (aORs = 1.28–1.79), fruit and vegetable intake (<3/day; aORs = 1.24–1.26), and pastry consumption (>1/day; aOR = 1.55, 95% CI: 1.12–1.15) (p < 0.05). Targeting socio-economic and nutritional risk factors may reduce the burden of anxiety disorders in middle and late adulthood.

Highlights

One-tenth of the global population will suffer from an anxiety disorder [1,2,3].Based upon assessment of years of life lived with disabilities, anxiety disorders are ranked within the top ten causes of disability in most global regions [4]
2286 out of 26,991 Canadians had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, resulting in a total prevalence estimate of 8.5%. Among those born in Canada, 9.3% reported that they had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder by a health professional at some point during their lifetime
The findings highlight that the association between immigration and anxiety disorders is long lasting as more than one-third of immigrants had been in Canada for more than half a century

Summary

Introduction

One-tenth of the global population will suffer from an anxiety disorder [1,2,3]. Based upon assessment of years of life lived with disabilities, anxiety disorders are ranked within the top ten causes of disability in most global regions [4]. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 1493; doi:10.3390/ijerph17051493 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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