Association between Depression and Sociodemographic Factors of Elderly Welfare Facility Users in a City

Shin, Ae Rin; Lee, Kang Joon; Kim, Hyun

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
As the prevalence of elderly depression increases, it becomes urgent problem to provide preventive and management measures. But in practice, it is difficult to detect depression in early stage. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the association between sociodemographic factors and depression in elderly welfare facility users in a city.
METHODS
In this research, the severity of depression and sociodemographic factors(gender, age, education, comorbid disease, housing type, number of children, number of family members living with the subjects) was evaluated through PHQ-9 and interview. Using the data, the associations of depression and sociodemographic factors were analyzed. Based on PHQ-9 depression cut-off value(10 points), the subjects were divided into two groups, and the difference of the variables between groups were analyzed statistically.
RESULTS
"˜Own house'(YES/NO), education(less than elementary school graduation/more than elementary school graduation) were sociodemographic factors which showed significance difference in mean PHQ-9 scores. Group with Over PHQ-9 10 points showed less "˜having their own house' and less education level than group with less PHQ-9 10 points.
CONCLUSIONS
With this research, it is expected that the risk factors for the elderly depression can be understood and the measures for early detection and invention of elderly depression would be provided.