DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2015.v03i01.005

Pages: 26-29

Deteriorating health status in the form of psychological, social and physical health problems are all associated with aging. Geriatric population is challenged by many psychiatric co-morbidities depression being the most predominant. Across India, community based studies have estimated the prevalence of depression amongst the elderly in urban areas, but there are only a few such studies done in rural settings. The purpose of the present research was to study and determine the prevalence of depression amongst the elderly population, 60 years or more of age, in a rural area of north India. This was a cross sectional descriptive study conducted in a rural area in north India. Out of the total population of 5037, geriatric was 554. Out of these 554 people, only 518 met inclusion criteria. House to house survey was done for collection of data by using a pre-designed and pre-validated 15 item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), developed by Yesavage JA in 1983. In this study, the overall prevalence of depression in elderly in the study population was estimated to be 62.16%. The most commonly endorsed symptom (83.01%) was a positive response to the question, “Do you feel that your life is empty?”; followed by, “Have you dropped many interests and hobbies?” (75.87%). More than half of the study population endorsed symptoms that they often get bored and helpless. Conclusion: Prevalence of depression in the present study, amongst elderly population in a rural area was found to be high which shows that the quality of health care services to the elderly need improvement.