Social and environmental factors and atypical depression in old age

This community-based epidemiological survey is concerned with relationships between social and environmental factors and atypical depression in a Finnish population aged 60 years or over. The occurrence of atypical depression was related to older age, widowed or divorced marital status, having moved during the previous few years, living in a small dwelling near the local population center, having neighbors living in the same building, living alone, being frequently alone, a low number of hobbies and many long-standing or current social stress factors. In addition, the atypical depressive persons felt that elderly people were not appreciated. The log-linear model constructed for atypical depressive persons revealed five subgroups. The first was characterized by living alone and being widowed or divorced, the second by living alone and having a low number of hobbies and a high incidence of long-standing social stress factors, the third by being frequently alone and being widowed or divorced, the fourth by a low number of hobbies and a low incidence of actual social stress factors, and the fifth by living alone and having a high incidence of long-standing social stress factors and a low incidence of actual social stress factors.