Citation

Petersson S, Mathillas J, Wallin K, Olofsson B, Allard P, Gustafson Y. Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol. 2014; 49(5): 831-839.

Affiliation

Geriatric Medicine, Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå University, 901 85, Umeå, Sweden.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00127-013-0771-2

PMID

24100915

Abstract

PURPOSE: Depressive disorders are common among the very old, but insufficiently studied. The present study aims to identify risk factors for depressive disorders in very old age. METHODS: The present study is based on the GERDA project, a population-based cohort study of people aged ≥85 years (n = 567), with 5 years between baseline and follow-up. Factors associated with the development of depressive disorders according to DSM-IV criteria at follow-up were analysed by means of a multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: At baseline, depressive disorders were present in 32.3 % of the participants. At follow-up, 69 % of those with baseline depressive disorders had died. Of the 49 survivors, 38 still had depressive disorders. Of the participants without depressive disorders at baseline, 25.5 % had developed depressive disorders at follow-up. Baseline factors independently associated with new cases of depressive disorders after 5 years were hypertension, a history of stroke and 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale score at baseline. CONCLUSIONS: The present study supports the earlier findings that depressive disorders among the very old are common, chronic and malignant. Mild depressive symptoms as indicated by GDS-15 score and history of stroke or hypertension seem to be important risk factors for incident depressive disorders in very old age.

Language: en