Anxiety Symptoms in Australian Memory Clinic Attendees with Cognitive Impairment: Differences Between Self-, Carer-, and Clinician-Report Measures

Abstract

Objectives: To identify the prevalence of anxiety symptoms using a variety of instruments in an Australian memory clinic sample. Methods: This is an exploratory cross-sectional study using a purposive consecutive series sample of 163 individuals and their carers who attended a Brisbane, Australia, memory clinic in 2012–2015. Descriptive statistics and correlation analyses were performed to explore different approaches to measuring anxiety in the sample, using clinician-rated, self-report and carer-report measures. Results: The mean age of participants was 78 years, nearly 53% were females. Over 70% of participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia (n = 163) experienced mild to moderate anxiety per a clinician-rated measure (HAM-A), which moderately correlated with carer-report anxiety (IQAD; rs =.59, p