Prevalence and determinants of depression among elderly persons in a rural community from northern India

Globally, more than 350 million people of all ages suffer from depression. Elderly persons are more vulnerable to depression. We conducted this study to estimate the prevalence of depression, and to study the association of depression with sociodemographic and clinical variables among elderly persons in a rural community.

We conducted a community-based cross-sectional study among 395 randomly selected elderly persons aged 60 years and above in a rural area of Ballabgarh, Haryana, India. The participants were screened by using the Geriatric Depression Scale, and diagnosis was confirmed by the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Multivariate analysis was done for independent predictors of depression.

The prevalence of depression was 11.4% (95% CI 8.6%-14.9%). Living in a nuclear family (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 8.98, 95% CI 3.40-23.71), lack of physical activity (AOR 4.95, 95% CI 2.00-12.27), whole-time involvement in household work (AOR 4.47, 95% CI 1.18-16.93), presence of two or more chronic diseases (AOR 4.45, 95% CI 1.60-12.35), having no role in family decision-making (AOR 2.77, 95% CI 1.19-6.42), sleep problems in past one year (AOR 2.97, 95% CI 1.32-6.69) and bilateral hearing impairment (AOR 4.00, 95% CI 1.80-8.88) were factors associated with depression in elderly persons.

Depression is common among elderly persons in rural areas. Individuals providing healthcare to elderly persons need to be trained to identify depression and take appropriate action; elderly persons with chronic diseases and hearing impairment deserve special attention.