[Screening for depression in an elderly population living at home. Interest of the Mini-Geriatric Depression Scale]

Depression is the most usual mental disorder in the elderly, but underdiagnosed and undertreated. Its prevalence is variable. Symptoms of depression present in the elderly can be masked and difficult to recognize. The purpose of this study was to examine prevalence and risk factors for depression in elderly living in their home.

A cross-sectional study of randomly selected homes in randomly selected geographical islets was carried out Monastir City (Tunisia). Questionnaire-based interviews were conducted among the elderly aged more than 65 years living in their home. Depression symptoms were assessed using a Mini-Geriatric Depression Scale. The relationship between the risk of depression and sociodemographic and health-related variables was studied using logistic regression.

Out of 598 (female 66 %, mean (SD) age 72.3 (7.4) years) elderly persons interviewed, 136 (22.7 %) were screened to have a Mini-Geriatric Depression Scale more than or equal to 1. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the following were significant (P<0.01) independent predictors of risk of depression: female sex (OR=2.36 [95 % CI=1.43-3.94]), having a low level of education (OR=4.02 [95 % CI=1.38-11.65]), disability (OR=3.50 [95 % CI=1.94-6.46]), a history of stroke (OR=2.90 [95 % CI=1.20-7.72]) and the use of hypnotic medications (OR=2.47 [95 % CI=1.38-4.42]).

This study suggests that the risk of depression is a common psychiatric disorder in elderly living in their home, and underlines the usefulness of the Mini-Geriatric Depression Scale to detect the risk of depression in the elderly. This clinical approach should be encouraged in all medical practices to improve the prognosis of depression in the elderly.