Psychological distress among elderly in Bangladesh

Abstract

Abstract Multimorbidity is a major public health problem in most developing countries including Bangladesh, where the population is moving towards aging. Elderly with chronic conditions may suffer from psychological distress which often goes unrecognized. Since psychological distress is curable, it is important to identify it at the earliest to enhance recovery. Thus the objective of the study is to examine the association between psychological distress and multimorbidity among hospitalized elderly. This hospital-based cross-sectional study is followed by a two-stage stratified sampling method and all hospitalized elderly aged 60 and above are the target population. Data were collected from April 2017-June 2017 by a structured questionnaire through face to face interview. The level of psychological distress was measured with the Kessler 10 items scale K (10). SPSS version 23.0 was used for data analysis. The internal consistency of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) was good (Cronbach's a = 0.96). The average mean of psychological distress measured with K (10) was 29.18. The level of psychological distress increased by no chronic diseases. Findings show that 88 percent of respondents have severe mental disorders who were suffering from 3 chronic diseases while 45 percent reported for no psychological distress with single diseases. And among multimorbid respondents, elderly women reported a higher level of Psychological distress than male. Similarly, middle-old and old-old respondents have higher psychological distress than Young-old. Urban and currently married people reported for lower psychological distress. Respondents engaged in work have higher psychological distress than unemployed respondents. Building sufficient systems of long-term care ensuring an appropriate setting that includes both formal and informal care to improve the psychological well-being of elderly people with chronic medical conditions is regarded as crucial. Key messages Psychological distress is significantly affected by chronic medical conditions. As many older people remain in hospital inappropriately with psychological distress, a number of measures can be applied to allow for more treatments out of the hospital.