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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Antidepressant use in the elderly population in Canada
— results from a national survey | | Author(s) | Stephen C Newman, Ahmed I Hassan |
| Journal title | The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 54A, no 10, October 1999 |
| Pages | pp M527-530 |
| Keywords | Drugs ; Depression ; Cross national surveys ; Canada. |
| Annotation | There are few epidemiological studies of the rate of antidepressant use in the older population, especially for those living at home. Findings on antidepressant use are reported using data from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA), a national prevalence study of dementia in which information was collected from 2,914 older people on current drug use, place of residence (community, institution), depression, dementia, and self-reported health. The rate of antidepressant use was 4.1% (community 3.1%, institution 16.5%). Of those who were depressed, 9.4% were taking an antidepressant (community 4.2%, institution 36%). A logistic regression analysis showed that female gender, living in an institution, the presence of dementia, and presence of a chronic physical disease, but not depression, were associated with increased antidepressant use. Findings are consistent with and extend previously published reports. Evidence was found of underuse of antidepressants in the treatment of geriatric depression, especially for community residents. However, the evidence needs to be treated with caution, as the CHSA data on depressive symptoms were incomplete. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-000118226 A |
| Classmark | LLD: ENR: 3K: 7S |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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