Prevalence of depression in old age

The Prevalence and Predictors of Depression in Type 2 Diabetic Population of Punjab

The present cross sectional study was carried out on 787 type 2 diabetic subjects from tertiary health care hospitals to identify the prevalence and predictors of depression in diabetes. Depression was tested using Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Of the study participants, 199 (25.29%) met the criteria for mild to moderate depression, 252 (32.02%) were severely depressed and 336 (42.69%) were clinically non-depressed. The prevalence of depression was 65.02 % in women, which is 1.87 fold higher (p < 0.0001) than men (49.87%). Depression was observed to be strongly associated with advancing age >30 years (p < 0.05), low income (p = 0.0001), sedentary life style (p = 0.001), Plasma levels of low density lipoproteins (LDL) >100 mg/dl and triglycerides (TG) >150 mg/dl (p < 0.05), drinking alcohol (p < 0.001), statin use (p < 0.001), BMI >35-39.9 kg m(-2) (p = 0.018), WHR >0.9 cm (p < 0.0001), Glucose levels >125 mg/dl (p < 0.0001) and duration of diabetes 2-4 years (p = 0.003). In multivariate logistic regression model, risk factors such as, being a woman, duration of diabetes ≥10 years, BMI ≥30 kg m(-2), LDL >100 mg/dl, TG >150 mg/dl and sedentary life style emerged as independent predictors of depression in diabetes. In the present study, 86.4 % diabetic subjects were not diagnosed for depression prior participation. In conclusion, the present study revealed that higher prevalence of depression in diabetes was evident in population of Punjab, especially in women and majority of these patients remain undiagnosed for depression.

Subclinical hypothyroidism increases the risk for depression in the elderly

In order to determine if subclinical hypothyroidism is a risk factor for depression in the elderly, a total of 323 individuals over 60 years old were interviewed using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) for mood disturbances. Patients were divided into Group I: 252 patients (184 females, 68 males; median age: 67 years, range: 60-89 years) with elevated serum thyrotropin (TSH) levels and Group II: 71 patients (45 females, 26 males; median age: 67 years, range: 60-92 years) with diagnosis of depression. Serum TSH and free thyroxine (fT4) were measured by sensitive assays. Thyroid antibodies were determined by IRMA. Depression was observed in 24 (9.5%) Group I patients and was frequent in subclinical hypothyroidism patients (14/24 = 58.3%). On the other hand, elevated TSH levels were found in 22 (30.9%) Group II patients. Depression was observed more frequently among individuals with subclinical (74/149 = 49.7%) hypothyroidism than among individuals with overt hypothyroidism (21/125 = 16.8%) (p < 0.001). Indeed, subclinical hypothyroidism increased the risk for a patient to present depression more than four times (OR = 4.886; 95% confidence interval = 2.768-8.627). Our results demonstrate that subclinical hypothyroidism increases the risk for depression and emphasize the importance of thyroid screening tests in the elderly.

Assessment of depression among cancer patients: the role of pain, cancer type and treatment

One hundred consecutive cancer patients were assessed using two structured methods for assessing major depressive disorder-Structured Clinical Interview for DSM III-R (SCID) and Endicott criteria-and using a depression rating scale-Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD). Forty-nine percent of patients were depressed using SCID (DSM III-R criteria), whereas 29% of patients were depressed using Endicott criteria. Twenty-eight percent of patients were depressed using both criteria. Age and sex did not have any influence on the assessment of major depression. Both the structured interview and the rating scale were able to identify suicide ideation. Depressed patients were not shown to have more lifetime depression than non-depressed patients using both structured methods. Patients who were depressed using both assessments of depression had more metastasis and pain than non-depressed patients.