Adding life to years: Role of gender and social and family engagement in geriatric depression in rural areas of Northern India.

BACKGROUND

Depression among elderly population is a major public health issue affecting nearly 5% to 7% of the world's elderly. In the coming years, a major share will be contributed by developing countries like India. In the rural areas of Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh, there is scarce data on the depression.

METHODOLOGY

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in rural Allahabad. A total of 411 elderly persons were selected from 2 blocks-Jasra and Bahadurpur-through multistage random sampling method. Short form of geriatric depression scale (GDS) was used to assess depression.

RESULTS

The prevalence of depression among elderly was 19.7%. On binary logistic regression, depression had significant association with female sex [aOR = 2.4, 95% CI 1.1-5.1], having less-than-good relationship with family members [aOR = 2.7, 95% CI 1.2-6.0], not being cared for during illness by family members [aOR = 3.9, 95% CI 1.2-12.9], not being involved in leisure time activities [aOR = 2.5, 95% CI 1.3-4.9], and not regularly meeting relatives and friends [aOR = 4.7, 95% CI 1.9-11.6].

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of depression in elderly was high in rural areas of Allahabad. Female sex and social and family engagement are the important predictors of depression among them.