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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Depression and mortality in medically ill older adults | | Author(s) | Linda Ganzini, David M Smith, Darien S Fenn |
| Journal title | Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol 45, no 3, March 1997 |
| Pages | pp 307-312 |
| Keywords | Depression ; Ill health ; In-patients ; Death. |
| Annotation | Several studies indicate that depression is associated with an increased risk of death not attributable to suicide in some older and middle-aged medically ill persons. This study compared the 30-month survival of 50 depressed and 50 non-depressed medically ill hospitalised older people interviewed in 1990-1991, who at that time were not terminally ill or cognitively impaired. It also aimed to determine retrospectively if refusal of life-sustaining medical treatments contributed to different rates of survival. The main finding of the study was that after taking severity of illness into account, depression was associated independently with an increased risk of mortality over 30 months in the study group. Depression was more important than several other factors found in other studies, including age, social support and functional status. No significant differences were found between depressed and non-depressed patients with regard to refusal or acceptance of life-sustaining treatments. |
| Accession Number | CPA-970812247 A |
| Classmark | ENR: CH: LF7: CW |
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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