Moving Out of Shadows: Depression among the Elderly in Dehradun District of Uttarakhand, India

BACKGROUND: Depression, a stigma swept under the rug, has morphed to be tabbed as the theme of World Health Day 2017 by the World Health Organization (WHO). Depression in old age is stereotypically tethered to the ageing process but it is a medical problem that has been under-researched. This study was conducted to estimate the point prevalence of depression among the elderly in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand and to identify its predictor variables. METHODS: It was a cross-sectional study conducted in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand (India) among 660 elderlies (≥60 years) from three strata (rural, urban and special groups). The Hindi version of long form of Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-H) was used to identify mild and severe depression. All statistical analyses were carried out by SPSS software (version 22) at 5% level of significance. RESULTS: The arithmetic mean (±SD) of GDS scores was 10.62 (±6.1). 55% elderly were found to be suffering from depression (46.8% mild and 8.2% severe depression). Bivariate analysis showed significant association of depression with increasing age, female gender, place of residence, type of family, living without spouse, financial dependency, involvement in any kind of substance abuse and suffering from some chronic morbidities like osteoarthritis, chronic respiratory illness, skin diseases, visual impairment or hearing impairment. These predictor variables were further subjected to multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of depression in old age and its multifactorial association tags it as a public health problem in this age group which should be recognized and managed before it becomes a health menace.