engleski

Depression – an important factor in the medical treatment of the elderly people

Introduction Depression is the most common mental disorder in the elderly population. Depression has a major impact on the treatment outcome of acute and chronic non-infectious diseases and on the quality of life and mortality. There are several tests available to detect a depressive disorder. One of the most used tests is the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15). The goal of our research was to determine the incidence of depressive symptoms in the patients hospitalized in the geriatric department. Methods A total of 1159 patients were included in the retrospective analysis (421 men and 738 women), in the age between 65 and 101 years. All subjects were tested with GDS-15 (positive test implies a GDS-15 value of > 5). The results were analyzed by Statistica 13.3 Tribco, USA. Results In a total of 266 (23%) patients the test confirmed the existence of depressive symptoms (90 men and 176 females). In women, symptoms are mostly present in widows, divorced, or unmarried women (121 women- 68, 7%). In the male population, the majority are married men or men who live in a partnership (59 men– 65, 6%) Conclusions Depression is present in a high percentage of elderly patients. Although patients are hospitalized for some other disease, early detection of depressive symptoms may contribute to greater success in treating the underlying disease. GDS-15 is a simple method that can detect the presence of de-pressive symptoms in patients applicable on any hospital ward. Routine screening is necessary for timely recognition of depressive symptoms, conducting further tests in the detection of depression and initiation of therapy. This can achieve greater success in the treatment of basic illness.

depression, elderly, GDS-15

nije evidentirano