An epidemiological study on Depression and related factors among Geriatrics in a tertiary care Hospital.

Abstract

Depression in old age is associated with genetic susceptibility, chronic disease and disability, pain, frustration with limitations in activities of daily living. The present hospital based cross sectional study was undertaken on 306 patients selected by systemic consecutive sampling from Geriatric O.P.D of Institute of Psychiatry, Kolkata to find out the prevalence of depression and associated factors among geriatric patients. 65.3% of the study population had depression (mild-36.2%, severe-29.1%) and the association of this depression with age (p<.001), gender (p<.001), residence (p=.027), marital status (p=.004), education (p<.001), occupation (p<.001), family type (p<.001) and economic dependency (p=.002), living condition (p<.001) was statistically significant. Social support group, local clubs and respective families should address the issue of depression among elderly. Family counselling for old age care, creation of a viable family and social environment will go a long way to improve the mental health of the elderly. aged 60 years and above will grow from 77 million in 2001(7.4%) to 150 million (14.41%) in 2020 and 2050 it will touch 300 million being 2 nd largest geriatric population in the world.. 2 Geriatric populations comprises 7.2% of total population of West Bengal. Age is an important determinant of mental illness. The overall prevalence of mental and behavioural disorders tends to increase with age due to the normal ageing of the brain, deteriorating physical health and cerebral pathology. 3 Lack of family support and restricted personal autonomy are other important contributing factors .Geriatrics are more prone to infections and injuries and they have increased risk of disease, disability and death. Mental health is an important concern and depression accounts for the greatest burden among them, expected to become the leading cause of disability by year 2020 closely following ischemic heart disease. 4 Globally, prevalence of depression in geriatric population varies from 10% to 20%, while in India; it is even higher varying from 13% to 25%. 5 Depression in old age is associated with genetic susceptibility, chronic disease and disability, pain, frustration with limitations in activities of daily living, personality trait (dependent, anxious or avoidant), adverse life events and lack of adequate social support. In a hospital-based study. 6 it was found that nearly 52.5% of the patients with chronic medical illness suffer from psychiatric illness, depression being the most common. Uwakwe et al 7 evaluated all the patients aged more than 60 years, who were admitted in psychiatric wards in a teaching hospital and observed that 45.3% of the patients had psychiatric illness, with depression being the commonest followed by organic disorders, adjustment disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. Only 2.8% of the mental disorders could be recognized by the physicians. This reflects the need for psychological assessment among the geriatric patients. With this background, we have conducted this study with the following objectives: 1. To find out the prevalence of depression among elderly patients attending geriatric O.P.D of Institute of Psychiatry, Kolkata. 2. To assess the related socio demographic factors affecting depression among geriatric patients.