Depression in geriatric patients with chronic medical illness

Abstract

AbstractAll patients (N = 123) on the medical services of a chronic care hospital were approached to complete the Folstein Mini‐Mental State Exam and the Montogomery‐Asberg Depression Rating Scale. Of 63 patients completing the MADRS, 35% had scores in the depressed range. A comparison of MADRS scores for a depressed population of geriatric patients admitted to the psychiatric inpatient unit of the same institution showed that both depressed medical and depressed psychiatric patients were significantly different from the non‐depressed medical patients on all subtests of the MADRS except in the frequency of endorsement of ‘reported sadness’. There was no significant difference between the depressed medical patients and psychiatric inpatients. Two‐thirds of the depressed medical patients had a previously unrecognized diagnosis of depression, highlighting the need for a greater awareness of the degree of depression in institutionalized geriatric patients with chronic medical illness.