A study on prevalence and correlates of depression among elderly population of rural South India

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Globally the population is ageing rapidly. According to WHO it is projected that the number of persons aged 60 or over is expected to more than triple by 2100. Mental health and emotional well-being are as important in older age as at any other time of life. As estimated by WHO, unipolar depression occurs in 7% of the general elderly population. 1 Multiple social, psychological, and biological factors determine the level of mental health of a person at any point of time. As well as the typical life stressors common to all people, many older adults lose their ability to live independently because of limited mobility, chronic pain, frailty or other mental or physical problems, and require some form of long-term care. In fact, depression is a common cause of disability in older adults. Among its consequences are reduced life satisfaction and quality, social deprivation, loneliness, cognitive decline, ADL limitations, suicide and increased non-suicide mortality. Mental health has an impact on physical health and vice versa. All of these factors can result in isolation, loss of independence, loneliness and psychological distress in older people. Depression is both under diagnosed and undertreated in primary care settings. Symptoms of depression in older adults are often overlooked and untreated because they coincide with other late life problems.

Prevalence of dementia and other psychiatric morbidities among geriatric population of Salagame primary health centre in Hassan district, Karnataka, India

“…Age above 80 years showed a higher prevalence which was statistically significant, similar to studies done in Nellore 7 , Ludhiana 25 and Manipal 26 . Elderly females showed higher prevalence of Depression than men similar to the other studies.…”

“…23 Some of the studies have reported lower prevalence of Geriatric Depression also. 7,24 This variation can be explained because of different study settings.…”

“…Elderly females showed higher prevalence of Depression than men similar to the other studies. 7,11,26 Lack of recreation, being dependent on spouse and children, more emotionally attached to the family, neglect, loss of spouse because of higher life expectancy all could be the reasons of higher prevalence.…”

“…6 Depression prevalence has ranged from 5% to 58% in various studies across the country. [7][8][9][10][11] Globally prevalence of depression is 10-20% and Dementia is 3%. In India prevalence of dementia varies from 0.9-7.5%.…”

Relationship Between Sleep Problems and Depression of Older Persons in Bangladesh

“…These situations might be caused by changes in physical and psychological state, as well as environmental conditions. The depression results are consistent with a study conducted in Korea [15], India [16,17] and Brazil [18]. In this study, 55.00% of the elderly were illiterate, 53.20% of the elderly lived in the nuclear type of family, and 71.8 of the older person's family monthly incomes were very inadequate.…”