Prevalence of Depression among Geriatric People in Dehradun City of Uttarakhand, India

Depression is a medical problem that is commonly seen among geriatric people which is sometimes unrecognized public health problem. So, a study was conducted in 200 geriatric people with the help of brief questionnaire in which the respondents were ask to respond to 30 questions as per long form of Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) to determine the prevalence of depression among older people in Dehradun District of Uttarakhand. It was responded by 88.5% of geriatric population. Most of the geriatrics (58.75%) were in age group of 60- 69, while least number (6.21%) were found in age group of 80-89. Fifty-three (29.94%) geriatric were found to be depressed as per GDS score. As per financial status was concerned 139(78.53%) geriatric population was financially independent and 38(21.46%) geriatric population was financially dependent. Out of 177 respondents, 32(18.07%) financially dependent and 21(11.86%) financially independent geriatric population was found to be depressed. It was also observed that 136(76.83%) were living in joint families and 41(23.16%) were living in nuclear families. The present study suggests substantial proportion (29.94%) of geriatric people are suffering from depression based on GDS standard method of screening geriatric subjects. And concluded that proper interventions are required from healthcare professionals to overcome the problem of depression in the community.