Background: Depression is a common problem in the elderly but is often undetected and ignored as a medical problem, leading to poor quality of life. This community-based study was conducted to know the burden and risk factors of depression among the elderly.
Subjects and methods: The survey was done in 2015 in Maharashtra, India as a part of an initiative addressing community mental health needs of the elderly. Total 400 elderly, aged 60 years and above, were selected through a house-to-house survey, using probability proportional to size method, and interviewed for depression using Major Depression Inventory Scale (MDI Scale), and other potential risk factors using a pretested questionnaire.
Results: A total of 16.75% elderly had depression. Increasing age (Spearman's rho = 0.112, P = 0.026), illiteracy (OR = 2.23; 95% confidence interval, CI 1.22-4.07), lack of sleep (OR = 2.97; 95% CI 1.73-5.09), and leisure time spending alone (OR = 0.57, 95% CI 0.34-0.98) were found to be associated with depression. However, on multivariate analysis, only sleep duration <6 h was found to be associated [AOR = 2.6; 95% CI 1.4-4.6].
Conclusions: There is a considerable burden of depression in the elderly, reemphasizing the need for regular screening for this disorder and its risk factors.
Keywords: Depression; geriatric; prevalence.