engleski

Poremećaji raspoloženja u starijoj životnoj dobi i izazovi skrbi u općoj/obiteljskoj medicini

Mood disorders have been traditionally considered a problem of adolescenthood and early adulthood. Recent findings are pointing to mood disorders in later life due to their devastating effects on health and functional capabilities of older adults. However, those disorders, including those most common such as generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder, are frequently unrecognised by family doctors. Main reasons for that are frequent comorbidities with medical conditions and cognitive disorders and patients’ treating mental disorders as normal aspects of aging. Screening 60 years old patients and older for anxiety and depression by standardised questionnaires, adapted for the use in older population, could be helpful in improving recognition rates. Definite diagnosis should combine the latest update of the DSM or the ICD classification criteria and a thorough clinical evaluation based on responses drown from a patient or a caregiver. Although effective medications for mood disorders are available to family doctors, their application in older adults may be compromised by the increased risk of medication interaction and adverse reaction. Psychosocial interventions are particularly important in this population group but evidence is insufficient regarding who should receive which treatment. The way of improving management of mood disorders in older adults, in family medicine, would be by intensifying research, in order to gain more evidence. More attention should be given to formal psychiatric training of family doctors, as well as to the strategies aimed at increasing the public awareness of mood disorders in later life and their modes of presentation.

poremećaji raspoloženja ; starija životna dob ; opća/obiteljska medicina ; dijagnosticiranje ; liječenje

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