Depression in elderly in India

AIM: Falls are an important contributor to loss of function, morbidity, and mortality in elders. Little is known about falls in Indian populations. The objective of this cross-sectional report was to identify the prevalence and correlates of falls in a cohort of 562 rural southern Indian men and women. METHODS: Risk factors included demographics, anthropometrics, self-reported health, medical history, physical function, vision, depression, and lifestyle. Odds ratios were calculated using logistic regression...

BACKGROUND: Literature on cognition in normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is sparse and more so on cognition in advanced NPH. OBJECTIVE: To study the cognitive profile in a hospital-based cohort of cognitively-advanced NPH. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was a prospective cross-sectional study. The patients included those availing dementia care service from three different tertiary care centres during a period of 5 years from 2010 to 2014. Patients were considered to have cognitively-advanced NPH if the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination(ACE) score was 50 or less...

INTRODUCTION: Depression is one of the most important causes of mortality and morbidity among the geriatric population. Although, the aging brain is more vulnerable to depression, it cannot be considered as physiological and an inevitable part of ageing. Various sociodemographic and morbidity factors are responsible for the depression among them. Using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model depression can be predicted from various sociodemographic variables and co morbid conditions even at community level by the grass root level health care workers...

INTRODUCTION: Depression is one of the under-recognized health problems in adolescents. Emotional instability resulted from childhood to adulthood transition makes adolescents vulnerable to depression. AIMS: The aim of the study was to explore the prevalence of depression and its associated sociodemographic factors among school-going adolescents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was undertaken from January 2016 to June 2016 in adolescents studying in 9-12(th) standard from forty schools located in an urban area of Patna, Bihar...

BACKGROUND: With the increase in the understanding of the influence of various lifestyle factors such as sedentary behaviour and level of physical activity (PA) on physical and mental health, there has been a growing research interest on how physical inactivity correlates with depressive outcomes across countries. The present study aimed to examine 1) the pattern of engaging in PA among middle- and older-aged population in four South Asian countries, and 2) whether PA is associated with higher prevalence of depression...

INTRODUCTION: In India, the number of elderly is steadily increasing and is likely to reach 301 million by 2051. The increasing number and proportion of elderly will have a direct impact on the demand for health and pension services. As per the Demography of Indian Aging (Rajan et al.), information on morbidity profile of this population is essential to plan health-care facilities. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was designed to study the morbidity profile of 100 elderly persons reporting to the outpatient clinic of a family practice unit of a tertiary care center in South India between June 2008 and May 2010...

BACKGROUND: Depression in the elderly has been emerged as a serious public health challenge in the developing countries. Elderly population with depression is on rise in India, but is not adequately addressed. This study was planned to ascertain the prevalence of depression among elderly in a rural population of Haryana and assess its socio-demographic correlates. METHODS: This study was a community based, cross sectional study, which was conducted in Community Health Centre (CHC), Chiri of Rohtak district (Haryana, India)...

BACKGROUND: Globally, more than 350 million people of all ages suffer from depression. Elderly persons are more vulnerable to depression. We conducted this study to estimate the prevalence of depression, and to study the association of depression with sociodemographic and clinical variables among elderly persons in a rural community. METHODS: We conducted a community-based cross-sectional study among 395 randomly selected elderly persons aged 60 years and above in a rural area of Ballabgarh, Haryana, India...

The rapid growth of the older population in India draws attention to the factors that contribute to their changing health realities. However, there has hardly been any study in India that has looked at the effects of specific social networks with children, relatives, friends and confidant on depression among older adults. The objective of the study is to investigate the association between social network and depression among the rural elderly. The study population comprised over 630 older adults (aged 60 and above) from the rural areas of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh...

Elder abuse and neglect is a problem that occurs across all settings and all populations. Elder abuse has many forms, such as abandonment, emotional or psychological abuse, financial or material exploitation, neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. We conducted this research to determine the prevalence of various types of abuse and neglect and their associated factors among elderly patients attending the urban and rural geriatric clinics at a medical college hospital in Bangalore, India. A total of 200 elderly patients participated in the study...

Elderly patients with hip fracture constitute Single Largest Group of Emergency Orthopaedics Admissions. In 2050, 6.26 million hip fractures worldwide, approximately 50%, will occur in Asia. Only small number of reports on incidence of hip fractures in the Asian population exist. India lacks data registry for fragility hip fractures, therefore, the magnitude and standard of patient care are not known. A prospective multicenter study was conducted from January 2012 to April 2014 to describe population-based longitudinal trends, namely, age-specific incidence, fracture type, timing of presentation, kilometers traveled, timing of surgery, hospital stay, man hours lost, pressure ulcers, weight bearing, 30-day return, 3-month mortality, and so on, of fragility hip fractures...

BACKGROUND: Local language screening instruments can be helpful in early assessment of depression in the elderly in the community and primary care population. This study describes the validation of a Tamil version of Geriatric Depression Scale (short form 15 [GDS-15] item) in a rural population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A Tamil version of GDS-15 was developed using standardized procedures. The questionnaire was applied in a sample of elderly (aged 60 years and above) from a village in South India...

Suicide rates are higher at high altitudes, and some hypothesize that hypoxia is the cause. There may be a significant correlation between rates of depression and altitude, but little data exist outside the United States. The purpose of the present study is to conduct a survey of depression among the elderly highlanders in Asia. We enrolled 114 persons aged 60 years or older (mean, 69.2 ± 6.7 years; women, 58.8%) in Domkhar (altitude, 3800 m), Ladakh, India and 173 ethnic Tibetans (mean, 66.5 ± 6.1 years; women, 61...

BACKGROUND: Depression, the most common psychiatric disorder among the elderly, is not yet perceived as an important health problem in India, where few population-based studies have addressed this problem. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of depression and identify the associated risk factors in the elderly population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 3038 consenting elderly (>60 years old) rural and urban residents of both sexes from the field practice areas were interviewed and examined in a cross-sectional study...

There is limited information on the nature of and health factors associated with elder mistreatment in rural areas. To address this gap in the literature, the current study described the nature of such mistreatment and investigated the association between different types of mistreatment and health factors among 897 randomly selected elderly persons in rural India. The results show that elder mistreatment was widely prevalent (21%). Furthermore, the higher frequency of and simultaneous occurrence of multiple types of mistreatment (83...

CONTEXT: Falls are a major public health problem in the elderly population. Fear of falling (FOF) among elderly persons can compromise quality of life by limiting mobility, diminished sense of well-being and reduced social interactions. India is undergoing a demographic transitional phase with urban elderly population of 6.72% in 2001. The major challenge would be on the prevention of falls among them. Hence there is a need to highlight the problems related to fall faced by the elderly in India...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The enigmatic etiology of neurodegenerative diseases poses a challenge for the development of novel and efficient drugs. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of a polyherbal (test) formulation on cognitive functions, inflammatory markers and oxidative stress in healthy elderly as well as senile dementia of Alzheimer's type (SDAT) patients. METHOD: A randomized double-blind placebo- and active-controlled clinical trial was performed in healthy elderly subjects and SDAT patients with an age range of 60-75 years...

Nurses often elicit patients' stories as a means to an end--for example, getting to know patients better and providing better care or treatments. However, the act of listening in itself can be therapeutic. Through the use of reminiscence therapy (RT), eliciting stories from elderly residents of a nursing home in India improved their sense of well-being. This article describes a study of the use of RT and presents one resident's story.

Depression among elderly is emerging as an important public health issue in developing countries like India. Published evidence regarding the magnitude and determinants of depression among elderly hailing from urban slum is currently limited. Hence, the current study was conducted to assess magnitude of the problem and identify factors associated with depression among the elderly in an urban slum. A cross-sectional study was done to cover total of 473 elderly persons from an urban slum in Bangalore, India. They were assessed for depression using Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale...

BACKGROUND: Different physiological, social and psychological factors contribute to nutritional risk in elderly population. Elderly women residing at old age homes are particularly susceptible. OBJECTIVES: To find out psychological and financial factors, if any, associated with malnutrition and risk of malnutrition. METHODS: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted on 200 residents belonging to > 65 years age group of nine old age homes selected randomly among eighteen old age homes located at south suburban areas of Kolkata from September 2010 to April 2011 using a pre-designed, pilot tested schedule containing Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) Scale and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS)...