Utilization of psychiatric consultation for elderly patients

Six hundred fifty-one psychiatric consultations performed during a one-year period were reviewed retrospectively. Cognitive impairment was present in 54 per cent and depression in 27 per cent of the elderly patients in the population studied. A second study of the point prevalence of cognitive and emotional disorders in the hospital was carried out using the Mini-Mental State Exam and the General Health Questionnaire. Emotional disorders had similar prevalences in all age groups but cognitive disorders were more common in the elderly. Twenty-one per cent of consultations were done on patients over the age of 60, although elderly patients occupied 28.5 per cent of hospital beds. Thus, elderly patients were less often referred for psychiatric consultation than younger patients, although the incidence of psychiatric disorders increases with age.