Does Anxiety Increase the Risk of all-Cause Dementia? An Updated Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies

Background: Anxiety has been suggested as a potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia, but results are still controversial. Our main objectives are to develop an updated meta-analysis of prospective population-based studies on the relationship between anxiety and risk of dementia, and to estim...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of clinical medicine 2020-06, Vol.9 (6), p.1791
Main Authors: Santabárbara, Javier, Lipnicki, Darren M., Olaya, Beatriz, Villagrasa, Beatriz, Bueno-Notivol, Juan, Nuez, Lucia, López-Antón, Raúl, Gracia-García, Patricia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxiety
Bias
Clinical medicine
Cohort analysis
Dementia
Estimates
Geriatrics
Meta-analysis
Older people
Population
Population-based studies
Review
Risk factors
Sample size
Systematic review
Womens health
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Summary:Background: Anxiety has been suggested as a potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia, but results are still controversial. Our main objectives are to develop an updated meta-analysis of prospective population-based studies on the relationship between anxiety and risk of dementia, and to estimate the population fraction of dementia attributable to anxiety (PAF). Methods: We searched for cohort studies listed on PubMed or Web of Science from January 2018 to January 2020 that reported risk estimates for the association between anxiety and incident dementia. These were added to cohort studies published before January 2018 that were used in a previously published meta-analysis. Fully adjusted RRs were pooled using random effects models. We estimated the proportion of incident dementia attributable to anxiety by using PAF. Results: The meta-analysis included nine prospective cohorts from eight studies, representing 29,608 participants. The overall relative risk (RR) of dementia was 1.24 (95% CI: 1.06–1.46) and the PAF of dementia due to anxiety was 3.9%. Conclusions: Anxiety is significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause dementia. The treatment or prevention of anxiety might help to reduce dementia incidence rates, but more research is needed to clarify whether anxiety is a cause of dementia rather than a prodrome.
ISSN:2077-0383
2077-0383
DOI:10.3390/jcm9061791