The absence of consistent findings regarding associations between anxiety and menopausalstatus is likely due to assessment of different symptoms, study designs and populationsstudied. Anxiety is a general term that refers to varying symptoms characterizing differentanxiety disorders, such as panic disorder (e.g., suddenly feeling fearful for no reason), socialphobia (e.g., fear of social or performance situations), or generalized anxiety (e.g., excessiveand uncontrollable worry, irritability). Such heterogeneity in anxiety symptoms anddisorders is reflected in the literature, the vast majority of which includes diverse measuresof individual anxiety symptoms, such as “irritability” or “feelings of panic” (8; 5), making itdifficult to compare studies and draw conclusions.