A 12 months follow-up study of depression among nursing-home patients in Norway

Depression is common in nursing-home patients and is often of chronic nature.

To examine the prevalence, incidence and the persistence rates of clinically significant depressive symptoms, and their risk factors among nursing-home patients.

A 12 months follow-up study.

A sample of 902 randomly selected nursing-home patients was assessed using the Cornell Scale, the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale, the Self-Maintenance Scale and a measurement of physical health. Information was collected from the patients' records. Clinically significant depression was defined as 8+ on the Cornell Scale.

At 12 months 231 had died, and depression was together with higher age, worse physical health, poor function in activities of daily living, higher CDR score and cancer a significant predictor of death (0.03). The prevalence of depression was 21.2% at baseline and follow-up, incidence rate was 14.9% and persistence rate was 44.8%. Predictors of depression at 12 months were: high Cornell score at baseline (p<0.001), a shorter stay in a nursing home (0.011) and use of antidepressants (p=0.050); for incident depression: higher Cornell score at baseline (p=0.019), a shorter stay (p=0.002) and higher CDR score (p=0.003); for persistent depression: higher Cornell score at baseline (0.011), use of anxiolytics (p=0.045) and not being married (p=0.037).

The incidence and persistence rates of clinical significant depressive symptoms are high in nursing-home patients. A higher score on Cornell Scale at baseline and a shorter stay in a nursing home were predictors for both incidence and persistence of clinically significant depressive symptoms.