Incidence of Depression in Long-term Care Settings

A one-year longitudinal study examined incidence and persistence of depression among nursing home and congregate apartment residents. Of 868 persons interviewed at Time 1, 15.7% displayed research-diagnosed possible major depression, and 16.5% displayed minor depressive symptoms. A follow-up interview a year later (T2; n = 448) yielded an incidence rate for possible major depression of 6.6% among persons with only minor or no depression in the previous year. For T1 nondepressives (i.e., excluding minor depressives), the incidence of possible major depression was 5.6%, and of minor depression, 6.3%. More than 40% of T1 possible major depressives showed no remission of symptoms a year later. In contrast, more than half of T1 minor depressives showed no depression at T2; however, another 16.2% appeared at follow-up to suffer possible major depression. Change in depression was associated with cognitive status, functional disability, and physical health. In general, persistence of depression was associated with greater decline, although patterns differed somewhat for the three functional indicators. Clinical and research implications of findings are discussed.