Prevalence and associated factors of depression among elderly patients attending the primary health clinic in Prince Mansour Military Hospital in Taif, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

A BSTRACT Background: Depression in the elderly is a common, debilitating, and costly condition. Little is known about the prevalence and correlates of geriatric depression in Saudi Arabia. This study evaluates the prevalence of depression among the elderly and its associated risk factors. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based descriptive study was conducted on 259 elderly patients attending the Prince Mansour Military Hospital emergency department family medicine clinic in Taif city. Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was used. Results: The mean score was 4.4 (standard deviation [SD] = 2.56), ranging between 0 and 13. The median GDS score was 4. According to the results of this study, Cronbach’s alpha for the GDS was 0.61 (95% confidence interval: 0.54–0.68). The prevalence of depression among the study participants was 43.2%. According to the GDS score categorization, 36.3% were mildly depressed, 4.2% were moderately depressed, and 2.7% were severely depressed. The adjusted effect was statistically significant for male gender (odds = 0.39, P < 0.001), older age (odds = 1.11, P = 0.007), diabetes mellitus (odds = 3.04, P = 0.02), asthma (odds = 25.94, P < 0.001), and renal failure (odds = 114.27, P = 0.03). Conclusion: Identification and treatment of geriatric depression should be prioritized by the family physicians in Saudi Arabia. Further research should focus on designing better culture-friendly geriatric depression screening tools.

Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Depression among Elderly People Admitted in a Tertiary Health Care Centre of Nepal

“…8 A study conducted in Saudi Arabia showed 43.2% respondents had depression. 9 A community based cross-sectional study conducted among In contrast to findings of this study seems contradict with the findings of the study conducted in china where the prevalence of depressive symptoms was 32.8%. 10 This difference could be due to difference in study population and use of different measurements for depression, methodology, diagnostic criteria, and characteristics of the samples.…”

“…2 The present study shows that level of depression was statistically significant with sex (gender) (p-value=0.01), education status (p-value=0.042) and financial support from family (p-value<0.00), while comparing these associations with various studies, gender was statistically significant (p-value < 0.001) in the study conducted in Saudi Arabia and Nepal. 9,11 likewise educational level was statistically significant (p-value<0.010) in the study conducted in Ethiopia and Nepal. 4,8 The possible explanations for the discrepancies between females and males being exposed to depression because of biological differences, that is females affected by pregnancy and related physiological changes And also, females take the majority of household responsibilities, and they depend on men, physically and financially dependent on male and other family members, loss of self-worth perpetuates the suffering of elder age.…”

Depression Among Elderly Attending Dubai Primary Health Care Centers: A Cross Sectional Study

“…The females in our study were more depressed than males. Our findings parallel the finding of studies in Saudi arabia, Bahrain and Iraq [14][15][16]. These findings correspond well to the literature, which suggests that female demonstrate a higher risk for depression compared to male as the male gender often considered "protective" against late life depression [17].…”

Prevalence of Depression Among Older Adults Visiting the Primary Healthcare Centers in Jizan City, Saudi Arabia: An Analytical Cross-Sectional Study

“…When we look at the prevalence of depression in our study, we found it lower than what had been recorded in different cities inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Four studies in other geographical areas inside KSA (Eastern Region, Altaif, Abha, and Al Madinah Al Munawwarah) showed that 42.4%, 43.2%, 63.7%, and 96.7% of study participants were depressed, respectively [24][25][26][27]. By looking at the neighboring countries, we found that the percentages of depression among older adults in Oman, Egypt, and Bahrain were 16.9%, 44.4%, and 50.6%, respectively [28][29][30].…”