J Korean Acad Fam Med.  1998 Jan;19(1):77-85.

Prevalence of Depressive Mood and its Associated Factors in the Elderly

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Family Medicine, Pundang CHA General Hospital, College of Medicine, Pochun CHA University, Korea.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: It was known that physical illness and depression due to cognitive function defects increase in the elderly, This study was designed to evaluate the prevalence of depressive mood, associated factors and to help understanding recent trends of the depressive elderly.
METHODS
We selected 108 subjects over 65-year-old who visited Health Promotion Center, Pundang CHA General Hospital for geriatric health evaluation from Mar. 1996 to Feb. 1997. We analyzed Geriatric Evaluation Record to Know the effect of sociodemographic factors, life styles and geriatric medical factors by Geriatric Depression Scale(GDS).
RESULTS
The result showed that depressive mood appeared 20(37.0%) in male, 35(64.8%) in female and 55(50.9%) in total among 108 subjects. Factors associated with depressive mood of the elderly were occupation(p<0.05), regular exercise(p<0.001), nutritional status(p<0.05), functional status and alcohol drinking.
CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of depressive mood of the elderly was 50.9%, and the depressive mood have been affected more for the elderly who was out of work, not doing regular exercises and got high nutritional risk. Further study is required to know other factors influencing on depressive mood of the elderly.

Keyword

elderly; depressive mood; associated factors

MeSH Terms

Aged*
Alcohol Drinking
Depression
Exercise
Female
Health Promotion
Hospitals, General
Humans
Life Style
Male
Prevalence*
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