Prevalence of the Late Life Depression: A Cross Sectional Study in Urban Population

Abstract

Introduction: The prevalence of depression in the community, with a focus on the elderly, has been widely studied the world over. The study was conducted to know their sociodemographic status and to examine the magnitude and severity of depression among the elderly living in the community. Materials and Methods: Total 90 elderly people living in the urban region of Sangareddy, Telangana state were analyzed for the study. Out of all the elderly population, 90 study subjects i,e., 42 males and 48 females were randomly selected. Written consent was taken from all the study subjects prior to the collection of the data. The data was collected by using the standardized methods, which were described in previous studies. Results: Nearly half of the study population i.e., 42.2% of the urban community were depressed. Dysthymia was the most common diagnosis with mild severity of depression. Late life depression was much more among the living alone and nuclear families. Conclusion: Significantly high prevalence of depression was found among the elderly living population.  Almost all the depressed had a physical illness with one or more impairments. Old age is associated with a decline in general health status and loneliness.