Henderson A S, Jorm A F, Korten A E, Jacomb P, Christensen H, Rodgers B
NHMRC Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Psychol Med. 1998 Nov;28(6):1321-8. doi: 10.1017/s0033291798007570.
To test the hypothesis that the prevalence, in the general population, of symptoms of depression and anxiety declines with age.
A general population sample of 2725 persons aged 18 to 79 years was administered two inventories for current symptoms of depression and anxiety, together with measures of neuroticism and of exposures that may confer increased risk of such symptoms.
Symptoms of depression showed a decline with age in both men and women. For anxiety, the decline was statistically significant for women but not consistently so for men. For the risk factors examined, there was a decline with age in the neuroticism score, the frequency of adverse life events, being seriously short of money and having had parents who separated or divorced. Further analysis showed that the association between age and a declining symptom score cannot be entirely attributed to these risk factors, with the single exception of neuroticism. The latter is itself likely to be contaminated by current symptoms.
Unless these findings are due to bias in the sample of those who agreed to participate, they add to the evidence that symptoms of depression and to a lesser extent of anxiety decline in prevalence with age. Some risk factors also decline with age. It now has to be determined if these cross-sectional observations are also to be found in longitudinal data; and what process may underlie this striking change in mental health during adulthood.
为验证以下假设：在普通人群中，抑郁和焦虑症状的患病率随年龄增长而下降。
对2725名年龄在18至79岁的普通人群样本进行了两项关于当前抑郁和焦虑症状的问卷调查，同时测量了神经质以及可能增加此类症状风险的暴露因素。
抑郁症状在男性和女性中均随年龄增长而下降。对于焦虑症状，女性的下降具有统计学意义，而男性则并非始终如此。在所研究的风险因素中，神经质得分、不良生活事件发生频率、严重缺钱以及父母分居或离异等情况均随年龄增长而下降。进一步分析表明，年龄与症状得分下降之间的关联不能完全归因于这些风险因素，神经质是唯一的例外。而神经质本身可能受到当前症状的影响。
除非这些发现是由于同意参与研究的样本存在偏差所致，否则它们进一步证明了抑郁症状以及程度较轻的焦虑症状患病率随年龄增长而下降。一些风险因素也随年龄下降。现在必须确定这些横断面观察结果是否也能在纵向数据中得到体现；以及在成年期心理健康的这种显著变化背后可能存在什么过程。
