Prevalence and Correlates of Depression among the Elderly in an Urban Community / 農村醫學 地域保健

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of depression and identify its related factors among an urban elderly. METHODS: The data for this study were obtained from 333 men and 514 women, aged 65-79 years who participated in '2007 community health survey' in Donggu, Gwangju metropolitan city. Their depressive symptoms were measured by Korean version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D). RESULTS: The mean CES-D score (mean+/-S.D) for all subjects was 7.68+/-0.31. The mean CES-D score was significantly greater in the women (9.09+/-0.43) than in the men (5.51+/-0.39) (p or =16), probable depression (CES-D score> or =21), and definite depression (CES-D score> or =25) were 8.1%, 5.4%, and 3.9% in men, respectively. The prevalence rates of possible depression, probable depression, and definite depression were 19.5%, 11.1%, and 7.2% in women, respectively. Existence of spouse (no/yes), education level (no/high school or higher), health security system (medical aid/national health insurance), self-reported health status (poor/good), vascular risk factors (present/absent) proved to be statistically significant related factors of depression. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that a systematic effort and attention to support for elderly people living alone, low educational level, medical aid, poor self-reported health status and vascular risk factors should be promoted to reduce the incidence of depression.