Depression Prevalence and Underlying Risk Factors in the Elderly of Hamadan, Iran

Depression is the most frequent psychiatric disorder in the elderly. Nowadays, because of the rise in the absolute number and proportion of elders in societies, the numbers of elders with this condition may be increasing. This study was conducted to evaluate depression prevalence and its underlying risk factors in the elder population of Hamadan, Iran. In a descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study, 240 over 65 year old subjects (121 males, 119 females), were enrolled in the study. Depression was diagnosed based on the Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale Revised (CESD-R) questionnaire and pooled data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software (SPSS Inc. Chicago IL., USA). Of the total number of 240 elderly, 116 (48.3%) had depression (score 17 or more, based on CESD-R questionnaire). Women were significantly more affected (61.3% vs. 35.7%, P value < 0.001). Other factors, which revealed a significant relationship with depression, were: illiteracy, being jobless or retired, having a chronic disease and dissatisfaction of daily activities. After performing a logistic regression method, only two variables (sex and dissatisfaction of daily activities) were significantly related to depression in the study population. In our study, depression had a remarkable prevalence in elderly, especially in women and in those who suffered from inactive or sedentary life.