Abstract
BackgroundThe increasing elderly population worldwide is likely to increase mental health problems such as geriatric depression, which has mostly been studied in high-income countries. Similar studies are scarce in low-and-middle-income-countries like Nepal.MethodsA cross-sectional, population-based, door-to-door survey was conducted in randomly selected rural and urban population clusters of the Kavre district, Nepal. Trained nurses (field interviewers) administered structured questionnaires that included a validated Nepali version of the Geriatric Depression Scale short form (GDS-15) for identifying geriatric depression among the elderly (≥60 years) participants (N = 460). Those scoring ≥6 on GDS-15 were considered depressed. Logistic regression analysis explored the associations of geriatric depression with regard to socio-demographic information, life style, family support and physical well-being.ResultsOf the total 460 selected elderly participants, 439 (95.4%) took part in the study. More than half of them were females (54.2%). The mean age was 70.9 (± 8.6) years. Approximately half (50.6%) were rural inhabitants, the majority (86.1%) were illiterate, and about three-fifths (60.1%) were living with their spouses. The gender-and-age adjusted prevalence of geriatric depression was 53.1%. Geriatric depression was significantly associated with rural habitation (AOR 1.6), illiteracy (AOR 2.1), limited time provided by families (AOR 1.8), and exposure to verbal and/or physical abuse (AOR 2.6).ConclusionGeriatric depression is highly prevalent in Kavre, Nepal. The findings call for urgent prioritization of delivery of elderly mental health care services in the country.
Highlights
The increasing elderly population worldwide is likely to increase mental health problems such as geriatric depression, which has mostly been studied in high-income countries
Prevalence The crude prevalence of geriatric depression was 56.0%
We found more than half of the elderly population in the Kavre district to suffer from some degree of depression; age and gender standardized prevalence was 53.1%
Summary
The increasing elderly population worldwide is likely to increase mental health problems such as geriatric depression, which has mostly been studied in high-income countries. The number of the elderly aged 60 years and above is projected to double by 2050; the biggest increments will be found in the low-and middle-income (LAMI) countries [1]. These demographic changes are expected to create substantial challenges for the social and health care services with a major increase in chronic diseases, Geriatric depression is an important public health concern that impairs the quality of life (QoL) and imposes financial costs on the family and society [3,4,5,6,7,8]. About one quarter of the total population live below the international poverty
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