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Background: Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is a frequent and severe anxiety disorder among older adults. GAD increases the risk of developing other disorders such as depression and coronary heart disease. Older adults with GAD exhibit a poorer response to cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) compared to younger patients with GAD. The normal age-related cognitive decline can be a contributor to reduced treatment efficacy. One strategy for improving treatment efficacy is to combine CBT with adjunctive interventions targeted at improving cognitive functions. Physical exercise is a viable intervention in this regard. Increased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor may mediate improvement in cognitive function. The present study aims to investigate the proposed effects and mechanisms related to concomitant physical exercise.Methods: The sample comprises 70 participants aged 60-75 years, who have GAD. Exclusion criteria comprise substance abuse and unstable medication; inability to participate in physical exercise; and conditions which precludes GAD as primary diagnosis. The interventions are individual treatment in the outpatient clinic at the local psychiatric hospital, with two experimental arms: (1) CBT + physical exercise and (2) CBT + telephone calls. The primary outcome measure is symptom reduction on the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Other measures include questionnaires, clinical interviews, physiological, biological and neuropsychological tests. A subset of 40 participants will undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). After inclusion, participants undergo baseline testing, and are subsequently randomized to a treatment condition. Participants attend five sessions of the add-on treatment in the pre-treatment phase, and move on to interim testing. After interim testing, participants attend 10 sessions of CBT in parallel with continued add-on treatment. Participants are tested post-intervention within 2 weeks of completing treatment, with follow-up testing 6 and 12 months later.Discussion: This study aims to develop better treatment for GAD in older adults. Enhancing treatment response will be valuable from both individual and societal perspectives, especially taking the aging of the general population into account.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02690441 . Registered on 24 February 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To assess health- related quality of life (HRQOL) with SF-12 and SF-36 and compare their abilities to predict mortality in chronic dialysis patients, after adjusting for traditional risk factors., Methods: The Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) with the embedded SF-12 was applied in 301 dialysis patients cross-sectionally. Physical and mental component summary (PCS-36, MCS-36, PCS-12, and MCS-12) scores were calculated. Clinical and demographic data were collected. Mortality (followed for up to 4.5 years) was analyzed with Kaplan Meier plots and Cox proportional hazards, after censoring for renal transplantation. Exclusion factors were observation time <2 months (n = 21) and missing component summary scores (n = 10 for SF-36; n = 28 for SF-12), thus 252 patient were included in the analyses., Results: In 252 patients (60.2 ± 15.5 years, 65.9% males, dialysis vintage 9.0, IQR 5.0-23.0 months), mortality during follow-up was 33.7%.(85 deaths). Significant correlations were observed between PCS-36 and PCS-12 (ρ = 0.93, p < 0.001) and between MCS-36 and MCS-12 (ρ = 0.95, p < 0.001). Mortality rate was highest in patients in the lowest quartile of PCS-12 (χ² = 15.3, p = 0.002) and PCS-36 (χ² = 16.7, p = 0.001). MCS was not associated with mortality. Adjusted hazard ratios for mortality were 2.5 (95% CI 1.0-6.3, PCS-12) and 2.7 (1.1 - 6.4, PCS-36) for the lowest compared with the highest ("best perceived") quartile of PCS., Conclusion: Compromised HRQOL is an independent predictor of poor outcome in dialysis patients. The SF-12 provided similar predictions of mortality as SF-36, and may serve as an applicable clinical tool because it requires less time to complete.