The prevalence of depression among the elderly people living in rural Wardha

BACKGROUND: Depression is the most common psychiatric disorder among elderly population in India, which generally remains undiagnosed and undertreated. Exact burden of depression among the elderly population in rural India was not known. AIM: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of depression among the elderly population in rural population of Wardha, Maharashtra. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study carried out among the elderly (≥60 years) population of both sexes residing in the field practice area of the department of community medicine. Geriatric depression scale was used for screening depression among the study population. Data collection was completed within 2 months using convenience sampling. Ethical approval was taken before beginning the study. Magnitude was expressed in percentage along with its 95% confidence interval (CI). Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were done. Odds ratio and 95% CI were used to express association. RESULTS: Magnitude of depression among the elderly population was found to be 41.7% (95% CI: 36.1–47.4). In this study, we found the following factors to have positively contributed towards depression among elderly population in rural Wardha: female sex, widowed, separated, divorced, decreased decision-making capability, abused, or being suffering from chronic illnesses. CONCLUSION: Our study showed the prevalence of mild depression to be 26.72% and that of severe depression to be 15.17% among the elderly study participants.