An influential health guidelines group in the United States says doctors should test adult patients for anxiety, as part of usual care. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent group of healthcare experts serving as volunteers. The group advises anxiety testing for everyone from age 18 to 65. The group began its review on anxiety before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, given the increase in mental health problems with the pandemic, the new guidance is “very timely,” said Lori Pbert. As a member of the task force, Pbert is also a psychologist and researcher at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. A story from the Associated Press on the task force’s new guidelines states that anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health problems. The task force notes that about 40 percent of American women are affected by anxiety at some point in their lives. About one in 10 pregnant women and those who have just given birth experience anxiety. Also, anxiety disorder affects more than one in four men in the United States Worldwide, anxiety is also on the rise -- especially among women. Back in early March, the World Health Organization released a report on the situation of mental health disorders. That report states that in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety and depression increased by 25 percent around the world.