N Swarnalatha
Associate Professor, Community Medicine, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College , Siruvachur-621113, Perambalur (District), Tamil Nadu, India .
J Clin Diagn Res. 2013 Jul;7(7):1356-60. doi: 10.7860/JCDR/2013/5956.3141. Epub 2013 Jul 1.
It has been documented that the elderly are more prone to psychological problems and depression is the commonest of the geriatric psychiatric disorders. In fact, the elderly in India face a multitude of psychological, social, and physical health problems. There is a dearth of community studies in India, which have investigated geriatric depression and its associated risk factors. Hence, the present study was undertaken with the following objectives.
To assess the prevalence of depression among the elderly.To determine the epidemiological factors which are associated with depression.
A cross-sectional, observational, community based study.
April 2009 to September 2009.
A Rural Health Centre which was a rural field practice area which was attached to the Community Medicine Department, SV Medical College, Tirupati, India.
The individuals who were aged 60 years and above were interviewed and examined.
By random sampling, the villages were selected. This study was conducted through house-to-house visits in the selected villages. Clinical examinations, observations and interviews were carried out by using a pre-designed, pre-tested proforma in the local language. Size: Four hundred subjects. The data was analysed by using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), version17.
The prevalence of depression was 47%. The depression was high among the elderly who were aged 80 years and above (54.3%), females (56.5%), illiterates (59.0%), those who were below the poverty line (86.1%), those who were living alone (87.3%), those who were economically partially dependent (63.3%) and those depended totally for the activities of daily living (100.0%). These factors were significantly associated with depression.
The prevalence of depression was found to be positively associated with increasing age, the female sex, illiteracy, a low socio-economic status, those who were living alone, those who were economically partially dependent and those who were totally dependent for the activities of daily living.
据记载，老年人更容易出现心理问题，而抑郁症是最常见的老年精神障碍。事实上，印度的老年人面临着众多心理、社会和身体健康问题。印度缺乏对老年抑郁症及其相关危险因素进行调查的社区研究。因此，本研究基于以下目标展开。
评估老年人中抑郁症的患病率。确定与抑郁症相关的流行病学因素。
一项横断面、观察性、基于社区的研究。
2009年4月至2009年9月。
印度蒂鲁伯蒂市SV医学院社区医学系所属的一个农村卫生中心，该中心为农村实地实习区。
对60岁及以上的个体进行访谈和检查。
通过随机抽样选择村庄。本研究通过在选定村庄逐户走访进行。使用预先设计、预先测试的当地语言表格进行临床检查、观察和访谈。样本量：400名受试者。使用社会科学统计软件包（SPSS）17版对数据进行分析。
抑郁症患病率为47%。80岁及以上的老年人（54.3%）、女性（56.5%）、文盲（59.0%）、生活在贫困线以下的人（86.1%）、独居者（87.3%）、经济上部分依赖他人的人（63.3%）以及日常生活活动完全依赖他人的人（100.0%）中抑郁症患病率较高。这些因素与抑郁症显著相关。
发现抑郁症患病率与年龄增长、女性、文盲、社会经济地位低、独居、经济上部分依赖他人以及日常生活活动完全依赖他人呈正相关。
