Fig. 2

Depression and anxiety assessed by HADS in the three different populations of older adults. a) The group experiencing GI symptoms (n = 24) revealed significantly higher depression scores on the HADS scale than the other two groups. A trend towards a significant difference was observed between the senior orienteering athletes (n = 27) and general older adults (n = 22). b) Anxiety score was significantly higher in older adults with GI symptoms compared to the senior orienteering athletes. A significantly lower score was seen in senior orienteering athletes when compared to general older adults, with the latter showing no difference compared to group experiencing GI symptoms. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001, ns = non-significant