Yonsei Med J.  1994 Jun;35(2):155-161. 10.3349/ymj.1994.35.2.155.

Prevalence of depression and somatic symptoms among Korean elderly immigrants

• Pang KY
• Lee MH

• KMID: 1381229
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.1994.35.2.155

Abstract

Forty-one Korean immigrants in Washington, D.C. (of the United States) metropolitan area over age 60 were interviewed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (Korean version) with additional questions about culture-specific somatic symptoms identified in previous research with Korean populations. The lifetime and current prevalence were 29.27 percent and 14.63 percent, respectively, for major depression; 9.76 percent and 2.44 percent for generalized anxiety disorder; and 9.76 percent and 7.32 percent for somatization disorder. The lifetime and current rates of co-occurrence of major depression and somatization disorder were 25 percent and 33.33 percent. Subjects who met criteria for depression were more likely to experience culture-specific Korean somatic symptoms than subjects who did not meet those criteria.

Keyword

Depression; somatic symptoms; Korean elderly immigrants

MeSH Terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Depression/*epidemiology
District of Columbia/epidemiology
*Emigration and Immigration
Female
Human
Korea/ethnology
Male
Middle Age
Prevalence
Psychophysiologic Disorders/*epidemiology