Centre for Policy on Ageing



Depression and associated physical symptoms — comparison of geriatric and non-geriatric family practice patients
Author(s)	Denis Lynch, Ronald McGinnis, Rollin Nagel
Journal title	Journal of Mental Health and Aging, vol 8 no 1, Spring 2002
Pages	pp 29-36
Keywords	Depression ; Symptoms ; General practice ; Age groups [elderly] ; Adults ; Comparison ; United States of America.
Annotation	Relative rates of depression diagnoses between geriatric and non-geriatric medical patients are assessed. The Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) was administered to 186 subjects aged 65+ and 1,486 younger subjects (aged over 18). Of these, 110 of the non-geriatric subjects were to receive a diagnosis of major depression or dysthymia, while only 4 of the geriatric group did. However, minor depression was found significantly more in the geriatric group. Compared to older depressed subjects, younger depressed subjects were more likely to report problems with sleep, appetite, and activity level. Suggestions are offered to explain why lower rates of more serious depression are found in the geriatric subjects. The differing constellation of symptoms in geriatric and non-geriatric patients may have implications for the recognition of depression in older people. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-020924219 A
Classmark	ENR: CT: L5: BB: SD: 48: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.