Prevalence of geriatric depression in the Kavre district, Nepal: Findings from a cross sectional community survey

BACKGROUND: The increasing elderly population worldwide is likely to increase mental health problems such as geriatric depression, which has mostly been studied in high-income countries. Similar studies are scarce in low-and-middle-income-countries like Nepal. METHODS: A cross-sectional, population-based, door-to-door survey was conducted in randomly selected rural and urban population clusters of the Kavre district, Nepal. Trained nurses (field interviewers) administered structured questionnaires that included a validated Nepali version of the Geriatric Depression Scale short form (GDS-15) for identifying geriatric depression among the elderly (≥60 years) participants (N = 460). Those scoring ≥6 on GDS-15 were considered depressed. Logistic regression analysis explored the associations of geriatric depression with regard to socio-demographic information, life style, family support and physical well-being. RESULTS: Of the total 460 selected elderly participants, 439 (95.4%) took part in the study. More than half of them were females (54.2%). The mean age was 70.9 (± 8.6) years. Approximately half (50.6%) were rural inhabitants, the majority (86.1%) were illiterate, and about three-fifths (60.1%) were living with their spouses. The gender-and-age adjusted prevalence of geriatric depression was 53.1%. Geriatric depression was significantly associated with rural habitation (AOR 1.6), illiteracy (AOR 2.1), limited time provided by families (AOR 1.8), and exposure to verbal and/or physical abuse (AOR 2.6). CONCLUSION: Geriatric depression is highly prevalent in Kavre, Nepal. The findings call for urgent prioritization of delivery of elderly mental health care services in the country. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12888-019-2258-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.