An Analytical Study on Depression among the Geriatric Population of Rural Field Practice Area of Private Medical College in Andhra Pradesh State

Background: Depression is a common illness worldwide, with an estimated 300 million people affected at any time. Depression is different from usual mood fluctuations and short-lived, emotional response to challenges in everyday life. In India, most of the elderly live in the rural areas and the access to the health care facilities is meagre. The depressive symptoms are likely to be dismissed as “normal” by the older persons, their family members and even by health care providers. Objectives: To estimate the level of depression among the geriatric population in a rural community. To study the association of socio-demographic profile with the levels of depression identified among them. Methodology: It was an observational analytical cross-sectional study done over a period of 2 months (7th August 2018 to 7th October 2018). Study population includes the geriatric population of rural field practice area at a private medical college. A minimum sample of 210 was included in the study by systematic random sampling method. Questionnaire consists of two parts. Part-1 consists of socio demographic characteristics. Part II consists of GDS 15-point questionnaire. Results: Out of the total 210, majority of subjects were less than 70 years of age (69 p.c). Prevalence of depression in the study was (33.8 p.c.). Depression was significantly high in financially dependent study subjects (56 p.c.). A significant relationship was observed between factors like Living status, Marital status, Education and levels of depression ( p <0.05). Conclusion: There was high prevalence of depression among elderly population. It was associated with living alone, presently not married, illiteracy.