[Treatment of depression an the elderly]

The risk of depressive symptoms and disorders increases 2-3-fold after the age of 65. Research on the treatment of depression in the elderly is a new field of which our knowledge is still scanty. Patients over 75 years of age, patients with intercurrent physical disorders, and elderly patients with depression and concomitant organic brain disorders are seldom included in controlled clinical studies. Only by an active approach to treatment can depression-related mortality be reduced. The risk of death is three times greater in elderly patients with depression than in age-matched healthy controls, and not solely due to suicide. Both the risk of cardiac death and that of death following apoplexy are considerably increased in patients with depression.