The Prevalence of Depression among the Rural Elderly in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh
It has been documented that the elderly are more prone to psychological problems and depression is the commonest of the geriatric psychiatric disorders. In fact, the elderly in India face a multitude of psychological, social, and physical health problems. There is a dearth of community studies i...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited
2013-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research |
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| Online Access: | https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/3141/23%20-%205956_PF1(M)_E(C)_F(T)_FA(T)_PF1(PUH)_1.pdf |
| Summary: | It has been documented that the elderly are more prone to
psychological problems and depression is the commonest of
the geriatric psychiatric disorders. In fact, the elderly in India
face a multitude of psychological, social, and physical health
problems. There is a dearth of community studies in India,
which have investigated geriatric depression and its associated
risk factors. Hence, the present study was undertaken with the
following objectives.
Study Objectives:
1. To assess the prevalence of depression among the elderly.
2. To determine the epidemiological factors which are associated with depression.
Design: A cross-sectional, observational, community based
study.
Period: April 2009 to September 2009.
Setting: A Rural Health Centre which was a rural field practice
area which was attached to the Community Medicine Department,
SV Medical College, Tirupati, India.
Subjects: The individuals who were aged 60 years and above
were interviewed and examined.
Method: By random sampling, the villages were selected.
This study was conducted through house-to-house visits in
the selected villages. Clinical examinations, observations and
interviews were carried out by using a pre-designed, pre-tested
proforma in the local language.
Size: Four hundred subjects. The data was analysed by using
SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), version17.
Results: The prevalence of depression was 47%. The depression
was high among the elderly who were aged 80 years and above
(54.3%), females (56.5%), illiterates (59.0%), those who were
below the poverty line (86.1%), those who were living alone
(87.3%), those who were economically partially dependent
(63.3%) and those depended totally for the activities of daily
living (100.0%). These factors were significantly associated with
depression.
Conclusion: The prevalence of depression was found to be
positively associated with increasing age, the female sex, illiteracy, a low socio-economic status, those who were living alone,
those who were economically partially dependent and those
who were totally dependent for the activities of daily living. |
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| ISSN: | 2249-782X 0973-709X |