Depression and associated factors among old age population in Dega damot district, North West Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study

Abstract

• Depression is a common disorder in late life. • Older people with other chronic medical illnesses, retired ones’ and with those having poor social support have more risk for depression. • Usual screening of depression in older people should be considered. • Integration of mental health services with other clinical services should be considered by clinician and policy makers. Depression has been recognized as a significant problem associated with undesirable outcomes such as poor functioning, increased perception of poor health, increased utilization of medical services, increased morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis and treatment of depression reduces medical costs and reduce caregiver burden. However, limited evidence was available on the prevalence of geriatric depression and its associated factors in Ethiopia. To assess the prevalence and associated factors of depression among old ages in Dega Damot district, North West Ethiopia, 2019. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from September 01, 2019 to September 30, 2019. Fifteen items Geriatric depression scale was used to conduct a face-to-face interview with 813 old age people in selected areas of the district. EPI data version 3.1 software was used for data entry and SPSS version 23 for analysis. Variables with a P -value of less than 0.25 in the bivariable analysis were entered in to the multivariable analysis. Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was calculated and statistical significance was declared at P -values < 0.05. The prevalence of depression among elders was found to be 45.9% [95% CI: 42.3%-49.4%]. This study showed that being female [AOR = 2.40, 95% CI [1.60–3.59], (age>75 years [AOR=6.78, 95% CI 3.08–14.93], age 70–74 years. [AOR=4.64, 95% CI 2.60–8.30], age 65–69 years [AOR=1.80, CI 1.12–2.88]; divorced [AOR=4.31, CI [1.53–12.17], widowed [AOR=6.56, 95% CI 2.28–18.79]; retired [AOR = 4.83, 95% CI [2.23–10.43]; having chronic disease (AOR=5.39, CI [2.70–10.76] and poor social support [AOR=7.45, CI 4.22–13.16] and medium social support [AOR=3.67, CI 2.36–5.70] were significantly associated with depression. Variables like alcohol consumption, khat chewing, and other substances are a sensitive issue in the society and might cause social desirability bias. Fail to establish cause and effect relationships because of cross-sectional study design was used. Almost half of the elders were found to be depressed which is high in prevalence. Screening of depression should be emphasized among the geriatric population.