The Prevalence of Depression among the Rural Elderly in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh

It has been documented that the elderly are more prone to psychological problems and depression is the commonest of the geriatric psychiatric disorders. In fact, the elderly in India face a multitude of psychological, social, and physical health problems. There is a dearth of community studies in India, which have investigated geriatric depression and its associated risk factors. Hence, the present study was undertaken with the following objectives. Study Objectives: 1. To assess the prevalence of depression among the elderly. 2. To determine the epidemiological factors which are associated with depression. Design: A cross-sectional, observational, community based study. Period: April 2009 to September 2009. Setting: A Rural Health Centre which was a rural field practice area which was attached to the Community Medicine Department, SV Medical College, Tirupati, India. Subjects: The individuals who were aged 60 years and above were interviewed and examined. Method: By random sampling, the villages were selected. This study was conducted through house-to-house visits in the selected villages. Clinical examinations, observations and interviews were carried out by using a pre-designed, pre-tested proforma in the local language. Size: Four hundred subjects. The data was analysed by using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), version17. Results: The prevalence of depression was 47%. The depression was high among the elderly who were aged 80 years and above (54.3%), females (56.5%), illiterates (59.0%), those who were below the poverty line (86.1%), those who were living alone (87.3%), those who were economically partially dependent (63.3%) and those depended totally for the activities of daily living (100.0%). These factors were significantly associated with depression. Conclusion: The prevalence of depression was found to be positively associated with increasing age, the female sex, illiteracy, a low socio-economic status, those who were living alone, those who were economically partially dependent and those who were totally dependent for the activities of daily living.