The “Aging Males’ Symptoms” (AMS) Scale assesses depression and anxiety

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic data and characteristics of the initial participant sample (N = 176).

		n [%]
Age (years)
Mean ± SD	54.3 ± 10.7
40–49		74 [42.0]
50–59		45 [25.6]
60–69		38 [21.6]
70–79		18 [10.2]
80 or more		1 [0.6]
Married		157 [89.2]
Spousal age (years)
Mean ± SD	51.0 ± 10.1
IAG (years)
Median (IQR)	3 (1, 5)
0–2		73 [46.5]
3–5		44 [28.0]
6 or more		40 [25.5]
BMI (kg/m^2)
Mean ± SD	24.4 ± 2.8
Normal (<24.0)		77 [43.8]
Overweight (24.0–26.9)		70 [39.8]
Obesity (27.0 or more)		29 [16.4]
Employed		104 [59.1]
Years of education
0–6		47 [26.7]
7–12		84 [47.7]
13 or more		45 [25.6]

SD = standard deviation, IQR = interquartile range (25th and 75th percentiles), IAG = interspousal age gap, BMI = body mass index.

Table 2. Partial correlation coefficient of the HADS and AMS scores.

	AMS-T	AMS-PSY	AMS-SOM	AMS-SEX
HADS-T	0.68	0.73	0.59	0.39
HADS-A	0.63	0.73	0.54	0.30
HADS-D	0.56	0.54	0.49	0.38

Demographic variables (age, interspousal age gap, body mass index, education, employment, marital status) were partialized.

HADS = Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS-T = total score, HADS-A = anxiety score, HADS-D = depression score, AMS-T = “Aging Males’ Symptoms” (AMS) scale – total score, AMS-PSY = psychological score, AMS-SOM = somatovegetative score, AMS-SEX = sexual score.

Figure 1. (a) Psychological symptoms, (b) somatic symptoms and (c) sexual symptoms.

Table 3. Demographic differences in groups of emotional distress.

	C (N = 109)	D (N = 18)	A (N = 26)	M (N = 29)	p
Age (years)
Median (IQR)	54 (46, 62)	55.5 (47.5, 67.5)	48.5 (42.3, 60.8)	52 (46, 55)	0.246*
Spousal age (years)
Mean ± SD	51.6 ± 10.3	52.8 ± 11.8	49.9 ± 9.8	48.9 ± 8.96	0.535†
IAG (years)
Median (IQR)	3 (1, 5)	6 (3, 11.3)	2 (0.5, 5)	2 (1, 6)	0.047*
BMI (kg/m^2)
Mean ± SD	24.5 ± 2.9	23.4 ± 2.9	25.1 ± 2.8	24.2 ± 2.5	0.257†
Married (%)	89.3	88.9	88.5	89.7	1‡
Employed (%)	56.3	50	73.1	62.1	0.376‡
Education (%)					0.210‡
0–6 years	32.0	27.8	15.4	17.2
7–12 years	48.6	44.4	53.8	41.4
>12 years	19.4	27.8	30.8	41.4

C = the control group, D = the depression group, A = the anxiety group, M = the mixed anxiety and depression group, IAG = interspousal age gap, BMI = body mass index, SD = standard deviation, IQR = interquartile range (25th and 75th percentiles).

*Kruskal–Wallis test.

†One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).

‡Fisher’s exact test.

Table 4. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of AMS scores in groups of emotional distress.

	C	D	A	M	F (3, 172)
AMS-T	39.4 ± 8.4	44.8 ± 9.5	44.3 ± 8.5	52.3 ± 10.3	36.2***
AMS-PSY	9.5 ± 2.9	12.1 ± 3.3	14.5 ± 3.7	17.5 ± 4.1	52.7***
AMS-SOM	14.6 ± 4.0	18.3 ± 4.3	17.6 ± 3.9	20.8 ± 4.7	19.9***
AMS-SEX	10.4 ± 3.4	14.3 ± 4.4	12.2 ± 3.9	14.0 ± 4.0	11.3***

C = the control group, D = the depression group, A = the anxiety group, M = the mixed anxiety and depression group, AMS-T = “Aging Males’ Symptoms” (AMS) scale – total score, AMS-PSY = psychological score, AMS-SOM = somatovegetative score, AMS-SEX = sexual score.

***p < 0.001.