Analysis of depression and its influencing factors in the elderly with hypertension in the community / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the depression and its influential factors in the elderly with hypertension in communities,so as to provide the theoretical evidence for practicing intervention for community health workers.Methods According to uniform inclusion and exclusion criteria,350 elderly people aged 60 years and over in Changxing Community and Town God's Temple Community in Changzhi city included hypertensive patients and healthy persons who were extracted by stratified random sampling method.The face-to-face survey method was taken,and the questionnaire included general information and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS).All data were through statistical analysis by SPSS 13.0.Results The incidence of depression was higher in elderly hypertensive patients (scores:11.70±6.67,56.4%) than in normal elderly persons [scores:(6.49+5.97,21.3)%,t=-7.314,x2=41.489,P<0.01].The results of multiple stepwise regression analysis showed the influencing factors of depression were subjective symptoms,complicating disease,knowledge of hypertension,co-living family and economic burden.Conclusions The incidence of depression is higher in elderly hypertensive patients than in normal elderly people.If community health workers do something to intervene the influencing factors of the depression in elderly hypertensive patients,the incidence may be reduced.