Psychiatric study of 69-year-old health examinees in Stockholm

Persons born in 1905 and living in the municipality of Stockholm were, in 1971, invited to a health check-up. The participants in this investigation were 3 years later invited to a follow-up-control. In this, 4,930 persons participated, i.e. approx. 50% of Stockholmers born in 1905, the original target population. In a questionnaire administered in connection with the 1974 health check-up 4% of the men and 7% of the women claimed to have symptoms suggesting a depressive syndrome. These 284 persons were examined psychiatrically, as well as 178 who had claimed the same symptoms 3 years earlier, and 127 who constituted a control group, in all 589 persons. In nearly all cases the depressed mood was judged to be a sign of neurotic condition. Severe untreated depressive states were not observed. In most cases retirement as such seemed not to have had any negative effect on the mental health of the examinees. Fifty-nine subjects stated that their mental problems had begun after the health examination in 1971, i.e. after the age of 65. The majority of subjects with mental disorders had developed their problems much earlier. It would appear that a general health control for elderly people in a major urban area does not reach those pensioners who are most depressed.