Background The increasing elderly population worldwide is likely to increase mental health problems such as geriatric depression, which has mostly been studied in high-income countries. Similar studies are scarce in low-and-middle-income-countries like Nepal. Methods A cross-sectional, population-based, door-to-door survey was conducted in randomly selected rural and urban population clusters of the Kavre district, Nepal. Trained nurses (field interviewers) administered structured questionnaires that included a validated Nepali version of the Geriatric Depression Scale short form (GDS-15) for identifying geriatric depression among the elderly (≥60 years) participants ( N = 460). Those scoring ≥6 on GDS-15 were considered depressed. Logistic regression analysis explored the associations of geriatric depression with regard to socio-demographic information, life style, family support and physical well-being. Results Of the total 460 selected elderly participants, 439 (95.4%) took part in the study. More than half of them were females (54.2%). The mean age was 70.9 (± 8.6) years. Approximately half (50.6%) were rural inhabitants, the majority (86.1%) were illiterate, and about three-fifths (60.1%) were living with their spouses. The gender-and-age adjusted prevalence of geriatric depression was 53.1%. Geriatric depression was significantly associated with rural habitation (AOR 1.6), illiteracy (AOR 2.1), limited time provided by families (AOR 1.8), and exposure to verbal and/or physical abuse (AOR 2.6). Conclusion Geriatric depression is highly prevalent in Kavre, Nepal. The findings call for urgent prioritization of delivery of elderly mental health care services in the country. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12888-019-2258-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: Geriatric depression is a significant problem in both the developed and the developing world. To identify this condition, Geriatric Depression Scale has been used in different languages and cultural settings; it has proved to be a reliable and valid instrument. However, the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 version in Nepali has so far not been validated.Methods: The original 15-item version of the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 was translated into Nepali and administered by trained nurses to a target sample aged ?60 years at Dhulikhel Hospital (n=106). Subsequently, the participants were blindly interviewed by a consultant psychiatrist for possible geriatric depression according to the ICD-10 criteria. Cronbach’s alpha checked the reliability. Validity was assessed for three different cut-off points (4/5, 5/6, and 6/7); the related sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and the negative predictive value of the scale were estimated.Results: The mean participant age was 68.1 (±7.2); males and females, 50.9% and 49.1%, respectively. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.79.The optimal cut-off point was found to be 5/6 with sensitivity and specificity 86.3% and 74.5%, respectively. Conclusions: Using a standard statistical protocol, a reliable and valid Geriatric Depression Scale-15-Nepali was developed with an adequate internal consistency and an optimal balance between sensitivity and specificity at cut-off point 5/6.The Geriatric Depression Scale-15-Nepali can serve as an appropriate instrument for assessing geriatric depression in epidemiological research as well as in primary health care settings in Nepal.Keywords: Geriatric depression; internal consistency; sensitivity; South Asia; specificity.

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Background The increasing elderly population worldwide is likely to increase mental health problems such as geriatric depression, which has mostly been studied in high-income countries. Similar studies are scarce in low-and-middle-income-countries like Nepal. Methods A cross-sectional, population-based, door-to-door survey was conducted in randomly selected rural and urban population clusters of the Kavre district, Nepal. Trained nurses (field interviewers) administered structured questionnaires that included a validated Nepali version of the Geriatric Depression Scale short form (GDS-15) for identifying geriatric depression among elderly (≥60 years) participants (N=460). Those scoring ≥6 on GDS-15 were considered depressed. Logistic regression analysis explored the associations of geriatric depression with regard to socio-demographic information, life style, family support and physical well-being variables. Results Of the total 460 selected elderly participants, 439 took part in the study. More than half of them were females (54.2%). The mean age was 70.9 (± 8.6) years. Approximately half (50.6%) were rural inhabitants, the majority (86.1%) were illiterate, and about three-fifths (60.1%) were living with their spouses. The gender-and-age adjusted prevalence of geriatric depression was 53.1%. Geriatric depression was significantly associated with rural habitation (AOR 1.6), illiteracy (AOR 2.1), limited time provided by families (AOR 1.8), and exposure to verbal and/or physical abuse (AOR 1.7). Conclusion Geriatric depression is highly prevalent in the Kavre, Nepal. The findings call for urgent prioritization of delivery of elderly mental health care services in the country. [Word count 230]

Knowledge about obstetric danger signs is very crucial for preventing obsterric complication. Globally there was 211 maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live birth in 2017. The maternal mortality ratio for Nepal is 239 deaths per 1,00,000 live births in 2016. A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted to assess the knowledge regarding obstetric danger signs among pregnant mother attending ANC at Scheer Memorial Adventist Hospital, Banepa, Kavre, Nepal. Total 100 respondents were selected using non probability purposive sampling technique through a semi-structured interview questionnaire. Data were analyzed in SPSS-16 using descriptive statistics (mean, frequency, standard deviation and percentage) and inferential statistic Chi Square. The study shows that mean age of the respondents was 25.56±4.307. More than half of the respondents (53%) were from 15-25 age group. Majority of respondent (97%) were literate. Fifty six percent of respondents had adequate knowledge on obstetric danger signs, while 27% of respondents had moderate knowledge and few respondents (17%) had inadequate knowledge. There is no any significant relationship with knowledge with selected variable age, educational status, gravida, week of gestation and -number of ANC visit. Thus it is concluded about that the entire pregnant mother requires some interventions for the awareness regarding obstetric danger signs from the beginning of ANC visit. ANC visit should be focused more than eight times as recommended by WHO.