DEPRESSIVE-DISORDERS AMONG OLDER RESIDENTS IN A CHINESE RURAL-COMMUNITY

Background, Two recent surveys of depression among Chinese elderly peo ple sampled different populations, used different case ascertainment m ethods and resulted in a seven-fold difference in prevalence rates. Th e present study was conducted to compare prevalence rates obtained wit h two commonly used methods in the same population, and to examine the risk factors for depression. Methods, The target population included all residents aged 65 years and over in a rural Chinese community. Par ticipants were interviewed for demographic and medical information, ex amined by a neurologist and administered Chinese versions of the Geria tric Depression Scale-Short Form (GDS-S), the Cognitive Abilities Scre ening Instrument (CASI) and an Activities of Daily Living (ADL) form. Individuals who screened positive on the GDS-S were also interviewed b y a psychiatrist for diagnosis according to the DSM-III-R criteria. Re sults, Among the 1313 participants, 26 % screened positive on the GDS- S and 13 % were diagnosed as having a depressive disorder, including 6 .1 % with major depression. Individuals with depressive disorders were more likely to have poor ADL scores, lower CASI scores, and chronic p hysical illnesses. They were also more likely to be female, older, ill iterate and without a spouse, but adding these variables did not incre ase the overall association with the GDS-S score. Conclusions. Depress ion was quite common in this Chinese rural geriatric population. The p revalence rate was twice as high when judged by depression symptomatol ogy rather than clinical diagnosis. The critical risk factors were fun ctional impairments, poor cognitive abilities and the presence of chro nic physical illnesses.