Prevalence of Depression among Elderly in Rural South India

Objective: Depression is gaining a major attention in perspectives of public health problem. The present study aimed to survey the prevalence of depression among elderly in the Kancheepuram district, Tamilnadu, India. Further objectives were to find the relationship between Depression and Old age.

Method: The study was designed as a cross-sectional study to assess the depression level among elderly in Kancheepuram district of Tamilnadu, India. The simple random sampling method was used for selecting the research participants. A short version of the Geriatric Depression Scale consists of 15 questions was used as a tool for measuring their depression status. Based on the scoring criteria, level of the depression status was measured and categorized them as no depression, mild depression, moderate depression and severe depression.

Results: A majority of the subjects were in the age group of 60 to 69 years (76.5%). The mean age of the participants was 66 years (mean ± SD: 66 ± 3.8).The prevalence of depression in the current study was 72%. There was a statistically significant relationship between age and depression. There was no significant relationship between gender and depression, as both genders had depression approximately closer to each other. There is a negative association between sleeping hours and depression score. As the sleeping hours reduces, the depression score of the individual increases.

Conclusion: Thus the present study aimed to find the prevalence of depression among elderly in rural population of Tamilnadu, India. Increased age and sleeping hours are the major determinants of depression.