Prevalence of geriatric depression among community dwelling elderly

The prevalence and associated factors of depression among elderly residents in Ranebennur Taluk of Haveri district of Karnataka, India was explored. Snowball technique was used select 180 rural and urban elderly and differential design was used. A self-structured schedule was used to collect the general information, depression was measured by using Geriatric Depression Scale-short form (GDS) and Aggarwal socioeconomic status scale. The results revealed that less than fifty per cent of the rural respondents (48.89%) were normal followed by mild (23.33%), severe (14.45%) and moderate (13.33%) level of depression. Similar trend was observed among urban elderly where, less than half of them (34.40%) were normal, followed by mild (28.90%), moderate (18.90%) and severe (17.80%) level of depressive symptoms. However, the statistical analysis revealed no significant association and difference between the urban and rural elderly. The prevalence of geriatric depression was alarmingly high in rural and urban elderly. Hence, there is a need to strengthen the mental health programmes in the community and also giving health education to family members to spend time with elders.