Urban elderly women's depression: prevalence and risk factors

Abstract

Background: Modern medical science has made it possible to increase the life expectancy of the population around the globe. It's expected to have double the geriatric population in the next couple of decades. Among the geriatric population psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety are the result of many socio-economic and cultural reasons. It has been observed that geriatric females suffer psychological depression more than the geriatric male population. Psychological depression can be easily managed with therapy and medication. Moreover, the dependence of geriatric women on their financial needs, biased based on gender, adds to the depression. This study aimed to evaluate the existence of depression in geriatric females and to study the determinants of depression and their correlation.
Methods: The depression scale of 30 points was used to assess the mental health of 200 geriatric women in the urban area. This was a cross-sectional study done on the community geriatric women dwelling in the urban area.
Results: 101 geriatric females were found to be suffering from depression, among the 200 women who took part in the study. 52 of them had depression at the milder stage whereas 49 of them had depression at a major stage. The determinants that were found to be responsible for depression were lack of activity, employment status, financial dependence, addiction and marital status. These were the major risk factors contributing to depression.