Abstract
Background: The growing populations of elderly people in Sub-Saharan Africa are exposed to social changes with potential adverse effects on mental health, one of such effects is depression. Depression is a disabling illness that affects even the most basic everyday task. There is therefore a growing and urgent need for mental care in the elderly.
Aim and Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the risk factors for depression in elderly persons attending the General Out- patient Clinics of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital.
Materials and Methods: The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Three hundred and ten (310) elderly persons attending the General Out- patient Clinics of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital for medical conditions between July and September, 2014, who met the inclusion criteria, were consecutively recruited. All respondents were screened for depression using the Geriatric Depression Scale. Details of sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents as well as risk factors for depression were obtained using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 and the level of statistical significance was set at p< 0.05.
Results: A total number of three hundred and ten subjects were recruited for the study. One hundred and seventy-seven subjects (57.1%) were females and one hundred and thirty-three (42.9%) were males. The female to male ratio of subjects recruited was 1.3:1. The age range of respondents were 60 and 90 years and the mean age (±SD) of the study subjects was 67.4 (± 6.6) years. From the study, significant risk factors for depression after logistic regression were loneliness and neglect, having no income, stressful life events, and financial failures. However, marital status and educational level had an association with depression when univariate analysis was done.
Conclusion: It was observed that poor income, loneliness and neglect, and stressful life events were risk factors for depression among these elderly respondents.
Keywords: risk factors, depression, elderly.
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Corresponding Author
Dr Uduak-Obong M. Morgan
Department of Family Medicine, UUTH, Uyo
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v6i1.155
