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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Onset and persistence of depression in older people
— results from a 2-year community follow-up study | | Author(s) | Tess Harris, Derek G Cook, Christina Victor |
| Journal title | Age and Ageing, vol 35, no 1, January 2006 |
| Pages | pp 25-32 |
| Source | http://www.ageing.oupjournals.org |
| Keywords | Depression ; Pain ; General practice ; Longitudinal surveys ; London. |
| Annotation | Depression was defined by a score of >5/15 on the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) in this 2-year study of 1,164 patients initially aged 65+ registered with two South London general practices. Associations between risk factors and onset and persistence of depression were analysed using multiple logistic regression. The incidence of depression was 8.4%, and persisted amongst 61.2% of those depressed at baseline. Comparing onset and persistence suggested some common predictors: greater baseline depression score, and follow-up measures of poor general health and compromised social support. There was some evidence that pain and worsening disability were more important for depression onset. In contrast, low baseline belief in powerful others (health locus of control measures) predicted persistence only. Focusing on older people with increasing disability, pain, physical ill-health and compromised social support should help in both the prevention and recognition of onset of later life depression. In older people with depression, those with the highest symptom scores and low belief in powerful others at baseline were more likely to develop chronic symptoms and could be targeted for more intensive treatment and support. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-060313202 A |
| Classmark | ENR: CT7: L5: 3J: 82L |
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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