The Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms and Risk Factors among Older Adults Admitted to the Geriatrics Outpatient Clinic: A Natural Result of Normal Aging or Not?

Introduction: Depression is a common geriatric syndrome. It is usually underdiagnosed and inadequately treated. The objective of this study was to investigate the frequency of depression and to examine its predictors in patients older than 75. Methods: One hundred and eighty-six patients (123 female) older than 75 years of age were included in the study. All subjects were evaluated via ‘Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form (GDS-SF).’ Multiple linear regressions were used to study the effects of continuous variables such as age, body mass index, marital status, who one lives with, having one’s own room at home, frequency of contact with relatives, exercise, chewing problems, difficulties in swallowing, having a special diet, fear of falling, involuntarily waking up early, urinary incontinence, constipation, impairment in cognition, nutritional status (Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form, MNA-SF), frailty, number of illnesses, and number of drugs. Results: The mean GDS-SF score was 3.49 ± 3.30, of which 30.7% of patients had ‘mild’ depression. There was no significant difference between male and female groups. In multivariate regression analyses, low levels of exercise, chewing problem, involuntarily waking up early and constipation showed significantly associations with depression (p<0.05). Conclusion: We observed mild depression in nearly one-third of patients older than 75. For clinicians dealing with this population, it is important to assess depressive symptoms and predictors in geriatric patients.