Association between Anxiety and Vascular Dementia Risk: New Evidence and an Updated Meta-Analysis

The association between anxiety and vascular dementia (VaD) is unclear. We aimed to reliably estimate the association between anxiety and VaD risk using meta-analysis to pool new results from a large community-based cohort (Zaragoza Dementia and Depression (ZARADEMP) study) and results from previous studies. ZARADEMP participants (n = 4057) free of dementia were followed up on for up to 12 years. Cases and subcases of anxiety were determined at baseline. A panel of four psychiatrists diagnosed incident cases of VaD by consensus. We searched for similar studies published up to October 2019 using PubMed and Web of Science. Observational studies reporting associations between anxiety and VaD risk, and adjusting at least for age, were selected. Odds ratios (ORs) from each study were combined using fixed-effects models. In the ZARADEMP study, the risk of VaD was 1.41 times higher among individuals with anxiety (95% CI: 0.75-2.68) compared with non-cases (p = 0.288). Pooling this result with results from two previous studies yielded an OR of 1.65 (95% CI: 1.07-2.53; p = 0.022). These findings indicate that anxiety is associated with an increased risk of VaD. Taking into account that anxiety is commonly observed in the elderly, treating and preventing it might reduce the prevalence and incidence of VaD. However, whether anxiety is a cause of a prodrome of VaD is still unknown, and future research is needed to clarify this.