Publication:

A cross sectional study on screening for depression among elderly in rural areas of Puducherry, India

Background Depression among elderly has been a neglected health issue. Various factors hinder its early diagnosis. The objectives of this study are to screen for depression among elderly using geriatric depression scale-15 and to determine its influencing factors.

Methods A community based cross sectional study on geriatric depression was done in villages catered by a primary health centre in Puducherry. Permanent residents of the study setting, aged ≥60 years consenting for the study were included. Line listing of elderly individuals in the study setting was done and subjects were selected by simple random sampling. A pretested structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic and clinic-psychological variables. Hindi mental state examination scale was used to screen for cognitive impairment (score 5) among geriatric individuals. Appropriate statistical tests of significance were done.

Results Among the 360 elderly individuals screened using GDS-15 tool, 41.4% of them were found to be at a higher risk of developing depression. Significant factors for risk of depression in univariate analysis include being female, illiterate, unemployed, widow/single, having sleep problems, dependency in activities of daily living and cognitive impairment. Predictors for risk of depression evident by multivariate analysis include presence of unemployment, sleep problems and cognitive impairment.

Conclusions A higher proportion of elderly was observed to be at risk of depression.  Primary care physicians may consider screening for depression in elderly with identified risk factors and act accordingly.