Prevalence of depression in elderly and relations to chronic diseases

Abstract

Background/Aim. Depression is the most prevalent mental disorder which affects approximately 7% of the world's older population. This study aimed at examining the prevalence of depression among older adults and its relations to chronic illnesses. Methods. Study was conducted within the National Health Survey of the Serbian population in 2013. The questionnaires used as instruments in this study were created in accordance with the questionnaires of the European Health Interview Survey - Second Wave. The Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) was used to evaluate the presence of depressive symptoms. The relations between depression symptoms (a dependent variable) and a set of independent variables were examined with univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results. The study showed that there was a 10.0% prevalence of depression within this population with statistically significant differences between the genders - 12.6% of women and 6.5% of men. The multivariate analysis revealed that multimorbidity [odds ratio (OR) = 1.89], chronic pain (OR = 2.35) and self-evaluations of poor health (OR = 8.37) were strongly associated to depression. In terms of individual chronic illnesses, the study showed that strokes double the odds of developing depression (OR = 1.82) while the deformities of lower spine increased this odds by 27%. Conclusion. Depression is very frequent in older persons who suffer from chronic diseases and medical conditions. It is crucial to enable adequate screening in primary healthcare institutions in order to diagnose depression in its early stages and start its treatment as soon as possible.