| Summary: | Depression in geriatric patients is a major problem that has medical, social, and economic
consequences¹. Chronic stressors and hard for the individual, it can cause hormonal changes that
increase IL-6 were positively correlated with the neurotransmitter norepinephrine
(noradrenergic)². In addition IL-6 also affects the HPA axis resulting in elevated levels of
cortisol, which activates the sympathetic system
3
. Treatment of depression consists of three kinds
of psychosocial interventions, pharmacotherapy and combination therapy
4
. LPD is one of the
methods in mind and body therapy, which the method is combines between relaxation and
remembrance with a focus on breathing exercises and words contained zikir (relaxation and
repetitive prayer) to evoke the relaxation response which is expected to improve symptoms of
stress or depression
5
.
In the present time, there are no study that show the effect of LPD on plasma IL-6 level
in the elderly with depressive symptoms in Indonesia. The purpose of this study was to
determine whether the LPD can decrease plasma IL-6 level in the elderly with depressive
symptoms.
This is a quasi-experimental research design. sampling procces was done by consecutive
sampling. The subjects of this study is the elderly in the district of Klaten, Central Java, who
visited the Posyandu and meet the inclusion criteria on October-December 2012. Effect of LPD
on plasma IL-6 level in the elderly were statistically assessed by independent t test, and if the
distribution is abnormal will be count with Mann Whitney test. Differences are considered
significant if the obtained P <0.05 with 95% confidence interval.
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