Abstract
Depression is a heterogeneous mental disease classified as a set of disorders, which manifest with a certain duration, frequency and intensity. The prevalence of depression in the elderly ranges from 0.5 to 16%.OBJECTIVETo establish, in an epidemiological study, the prevalence of significant depressive symptoms in the population aged 60 years or older.METHODSResults of a cross-sectional epidemiological study, involving home visits, being carried out in the city of Tremembé, Brazil, were reported. The sample was randomly selected by drawing 20% of the population over 60 years from each of the city's census sectors. In this single-phase study, the assessment included clinical history, physical and neurological examination, cognitive evaluation, the Cornell scale and the Patient Health Questionnaire for psychiatric symptoms. Scores greater than or equal to 8 on the Cornell scale were taken to indicate the presence of depressive symptoms.RESULTSA total of 455 elders were assessed, and of these 169 (37.1%) had clinically significant depressive symptoms (CSDS). Depression prevalence was higher among women (p<0.001) and individuals with lower education (p=0.033). The Chi-square test for trends showed a significant relationship where lower socioeconomic status was associated with greater likelihood of depressive symptoms (p=0.005).CONCLUSIONThe prevalence of depressive symptoms was high in this sample of the population-based study and was associated with female gender, low educational level and socioeconomic status. The assessment of the entire population sample must be completed.
Highlights
Depression is a major and growing public health problem and is believed to be a leading cause of mental disability.[1]
Depression is a heterogeneous mental illness that encompasses a group of disorders, which present with a certain duration, frequency and intensity and are caused by genetic, biochemical, psychological and social/familial factors.[4]
The initial parameters of the sample were calculated for a study of the prevalence of cognitive impairment with and without dementia, which constituted the primary objective of this study
Summary
Depression is a major and growing public health problem and is believed to be a leading cause of mental disability.[1]. Depression is a heterogeneous mental illness that encompasses a group of disorders, which present with a certain duration, frequency and intensity and are caused by genetic, biochemical, psychological and social/familial factors.[4]. The prevalence of depression in the elderly population worldwide ranges from 0.5% in China to 13.8% in the Dominican Republic.[5] The combined prevalence of significant depressive symptoms and major depressive disorder in elderly Brazilians was found to be 7% in São Paulo[6] while depression in the general population was 16.1% in Porto Alegre.[2]. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of significant depressive symptoms in an epidemiological study conducted to diagnose cognitive disorders in the population aged 60 years or older in the city of Tremembé, state of São Paulo, Brazil
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