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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The implication of selection bias in clinical studies of late life depression
— an empirical approach | | Author(s) | E Van Exel, M L Stek, D J H Deeg |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol l5, no 6, June 2000 |
| Pages | pp 488-492 |
| Keywords | Depression ; Psychogeriatric patients ; Living in the community ; Comparison ; Longitudinal surveys ; Netherlands. |
| Annotation | There is little empirical evidence demonstrating the degree to which those depressed in the community differ to those treated in clinical settings. In this Dutch study, all older patients admitted between 1990 and 1992 to a psychiatric hospital with DSM major depression as the primary diagnosis (n=104) were compared with all older patients with the same diagnosis (n=59) participating in the Longitudinal Ageing Study, Amsterdam. Data from the clinical sample were gathered by chart review, while the community based sample was interviewed. The following characteristics were significantly more prevalent in the clinical sample: late onset of the depression; threat of suicide; conflicts with significant others; and use of antidepressant medication. Chronic physical illness was the only characteristic that was more prevalent in the community sample. In all other respects, the two samples were similar. The assumption that selection bias precludes the extrapolation of results of studies carried out in a clinical setting to the general population is only partly true. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-000823220 A |
| Classmark | ENR: LF:E: K4: 48: 3J: 76H |
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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