Both chronic and new cases of anxiety are associated with increased risk of dementia. The study of older patients is reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, but it is not all bad news. Researchers say that in cases where anxiety was resolved there was no association with dementia. The study found two to three times higher risk in patients with anxiety who were followed for an average of ten years. Their average age was seventy-six, but when anxiety was observed before the age of seventy, the risk of dementia was even higher. Authors at Australia’s University of Newcastle conclude anxiety may be a new risk factor to target in preventing dementia and just treating anxiety may reduce the risk.