Prevalence and Predictors of Abuse in Elderly Patients with Depression at a Tertiary Care Centre in Saurashtra, India

Context: Elder abuse has devastating consequences such as poor quality of life, psychological distress and loss of property and security. Abuse of elderly patients with depression has not been adequately researched in India. Aims: To explore the prevalence and predictors of abuse and its relation to various sociodemographic variables in elderly patients with depression. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional, observational study carried out at a tertiary care centre in Jamnagar. Methods and Materials: In all, 100 elderly patients with depression, attending Out Patient Department of Psychiatry at Shree M. P. Shah Government Medical College and Guru Gobind Singh Hospital, Jamnagar, were selected using simple random sampling by lottery method. Actual Abuse Tool and Elder Abuse Suspicion Index were used to detect abuse. Geriatric Depression Scale was used to assess depression, and Mini Mental State Examination was used to rule out dementia. Statistical Analysis: Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, and binary logistic regression were used. Results: The prevalence of abuse was 24%. Among those who had experienced abuse, 50% had experienced psychological abuse, 17% had experienced neglect, 8% had experienced exploitation and 4% had experienced physical abuse. About 54% of patients with severe depression had experienced abuse. Daughters-in-law (54%) and sons (42%) were the most common perpetrators. Illiteracy and severe depression were found to be the predictors of abuse. Conclusion: Prevalence of abuse in elderly patients with depression is high. Severe depression and illiteracy are important predictors of experiencing abuse.