Study of Depression in Geriatric Population: Old Age Home and Community in Lucknow India

Introduction - With people living longer, households are getting smaller and congested, causing stress in joint or extended families. This may lead to old age home settlement. Even where they are co-residing, marginalization, isolation and insecurity are felt among elderly due to the generation and communication gap. All these condition affect the mental status of elderly which may sometime lead to depression.

Objective – To study depression among elderly people living in community and in old age homes.

Methodology- A cross-sectional descriptive study was done. Elderly (age ≥60 years) enrolled in old age homes and from community residing in Lucknow city, India were the study population.Multistage sampling technique was used to include the requisite number of respondents  from the community and all the elderly living in OAHs were included. Geriatric depression scale hindi version was used to diagnose depression in elderly people.

Results- Elderly who were single 30.3 percent were depressed on the other hand it was 14.0 percent among married elderly. Depression was 27.7 percent among elderly residing in OAHs while it was 15.6 percent those residing at their own homes. Among financially independent elderly 10.0 percent were depressed while it was 32.3 percent among those who were totally dependent.

Conclusion-Depression was more common among elderly living in OAHs compare to those living in community. Similarly it was more among the single than those who were married and living with their partner. Financially independent elderly were less depressed.