Two-year outcome of elderly patients with anxious depression.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a difference in the long-term outcome between elderly patients with anxious depression and those with non-anxious depression. Eighty-three patients with non-bipolar, non-psychotic major depression who had responded to treatment of the index episode were maintained on full-dose antidepressant medication and followed on a monthly basis over a period of 2 years. Anxiety status at index assessment was not related to outcome as defined by rates of relapse and recurrence or time to these events. However, the few patients who remained anxious at the point of remission of the index episode had a significantly shorter time to relapse/recurrence. These findings suggest that, once they achieve remission and are given adequate prophylactic treatment, most older patients with anxious depression have a similar long-term outcome to patients without anxiety.