CHANGES IN PERCEIVED HEALTH-STATUS OF DEPRESSED ELDERLY PATIENTS TREATED UNTIL REMISSION

Objective: The authors predicted that depressed elderly patients who r esponded to treatment would rate their baseline health more positively than nonresponders, that responders would again rate their health mor e positively once they were in remission, and that lower baseline self -ratings of health would predict lack of response to Protocol treatmen t. Method: The Perception of Illness Scale teas administered to 61 dep ressed elderly patients at baseline and again upon completion of the a cute phase of a depression treatment protocol. A logistic regression w as performed to ascertain whether Perception of Illness Scale scores p redicted response to protocol treatment. Results: Baseline Perception of Illness Scale scores were Poorer among the nonresponders, accuratel y predicted response or lack of response in 75% of the subjects, and s howed before- to after-treatment improvement among the responders. Con clusions: Patients who initially rated their health as fair to poor we re less likely recover from depression ill a standardized treatment pr otocol. Self-ratings of health improved with resolution of depression.