Anxiety symptoms in 74+ community-dwelling elderly: associations with physical morbidity, depression and alcohol consumption.

Objective: Anxiety among community-dwelling older adults has not been studied sufficiently. The aims of this cross-sectional population-based study were to estimate the point prevalence of clinically relevant anxiety symptoms and to describe their socio-demographic and clinical features, with particular focus on the association with somatic illnesses.

Methods: Three-hundred-sixty-six non-demented older adults (mean age 83.

Association between Sirtuin 2 gene rs10410544 polymorphism and depression in Alzheimer's disease in two independent European samples.

Among the several genes associated with late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD), recently, Sirtuin genes have roused a growing interest because of their involvement in metabolic homeostasis and in brain aging. Particularly SIRT2 gene has been associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) as well as with mood disorders. The aim of this study is to investigate the possible associations between Sirtuin 2 gene (SIRT2) rs10410544 polymorphism and AD as well as depression in AD.

Pet therapy in elderly patients with mental illness.

Background: To evaluate the effects of pet therapy on cognitive function, mood and perceived quality of life on elderly inpatients (mean age 84.7 years; 95.2% women) affected by dementia, depression and psychosis.

Vision and hearing impairments are associated with depressive--anxiety syndrome in Italian elderly.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between vision and hearing impairment and depressive-anxiety syndrome in a large population participating in the Faenza Project, Northern Italy.

Method: The study population consisted of 7389 participants not affected by dementia, 4408 (59.7%), of whom were women, mean age ± standard deviation (±SD) 71.