HOW DEPRESSED ARE THE ELDERLY PERSONS IN OLD-AGE HOMES? A PILOT STUDY IN AN OLD-AGE HOME OF SILIGURI

INTRODUCTION: With the increasing trend of nuclear families in the society, the care of older persons in the families gets difcult and they are forced to shift to old age homes. There are lack of close family ties and reduced connections with their culture of origin, which leads to high risk of depression among olders. OBJECTIVE:Determine the Prevalence of depression among the inmates of old-age home and identify associated factors METHODS: Study type and design: 7 Observational study, Cross sectional design Study setting:The study was conducted in Aapnaghar old-age home of Siliguri, West Bengal (The old age home was chosen by lottery method). Study population:In-mates of Aapnaghar old-age home Study period: 2 months Sample size: All inmates of Aapnaghar old-age home was included by complete enumeration method; total 75 participants DISCUSSION:In Mild mood disturbance to borderline clinical depression, 28 (54.9%) patients were Male and 9 (37.5%) patients were Female. In Moderate to severe depression, 15 (29.4%) patients were Male and 15 (62.5%) patients were Female. Association of Gender vs Normal, Mild mood disturbance to borderline clinical depression and Moderate to severe depression was statistically signicant (p<0.0001). In Normal, 6 (42.9%) patients were married, 1 (4.2%) patients were unmarried and 1 (2.7%) patients were others. In Mild mood disturbance to borderline clinical depression, 7 (50%) patients were married, 19 (79.2%) patients were unmarried and 11 (29.7%) patients were others. CONCLUSION: In the current study, the BDI has been utilized to detect the prevalence of depression. Although it is not designed for diagnostic purposes, its epidemiologic utility has been evaluated in several studies. Depression was a common nding among the elderly in old-age home. These results could help to clarify the attributes of target populations for depression and provide insight to prevent depression among elderly