Sociodemographic and clinical features of elderly people with a diagnosis of depression

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the sociodemographic characteristics and clinical features of elderly patients diagnosed with depression. Method: Over 60 years age patients' medical records, who applied to geropsychiatry polyclinic evaluated retrospectively at the Pamukkale University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. Forty six patients diagnosed with depression were taken into the study. Findings: Of the patients 65.2% were female, 54.3% were housewives, 48.8% were primary school graduates, 67.4% lived in urban and 73.9% were married. Average age was 68.70±5.57; average years of education were 4.16±3.85. For the majority of the patients (%84.8) this was the first depression episode. Six patients had already been diagnosed with recurrent depression and 1 patient with dysthymic disorder. A distinct stress factor was determined for 78.3% of the patients. The most specified stress factors were illness of the spouse, physical illness and loss of spouse. Of the patients 58.5% had a chronic physical illness. It was determined that Standardized Mini Mental Test Scale (SMMT) was applied to 25 patients (average: 25.20±4.16). There is a positive correlation between the SMMT points and the years of education. Conclusion and Discussion: It was determined that most of the patients diagnosed with depression were female, married, lived in urban, were primary school graduates, had their first depressive episode and that there was distinct stress factor.