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Affective disorders in older inpatients
Tilman Wetterling1, Klaus Junghanns
1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy/Gerontopsychiatry, Vivantes Klinikum Hellersdorf, Myslowitzer Strasse 45, 12621 Berlin, Germany. tilman.wetterling@vivantes.de
International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
|May 25, 2004
Summary
Older adults with depression show similar symptom severity and treatment duration as younger patients. However, elderly individuals experience more physical illnesses and less psychiatric comorbidity.
Area of Science:
- Geriatric Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
- Internal Medicine
Background:
- Depression is the second most common psychiatric disorder in the elderly.
- Debate exists on whether elderly depression differs from younger depression in symptom presentation, duration, and comorbidity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare younger and older psychiatric inpatients regarding depression.
- To investigate differences in treatment duration, symptom severity, delusions, cognitive impairment, and physical comorbidities.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective chart review of 9400 psychiatric inpatients and 15348 psychiatric consultations (1990-1998).
- Diagnoses were made according to International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) criteria.
- Comparison between younger (<65 years) and older (>=65 years) inpatients.
Main Results:
- Depressive episodes increased with age, comprising 37.4% in the 70-79 age group.
- No significant differences in symptom severity or duration of inpatient treatment were found between age groups.
- Older patients had more concurrent physical illness but less suicidal attempts and psychiatric comorbidity.
Conclusions:
- Older depressive inpatients differ from younger ones primarily in concurrent comorbidity, not symptom pattern or treatment duration.
- Elderly patients exhibit a higher prevalence of physical illness and lower rates of psychiatric comorbidity.