Title: Psychiatric Morbidity among Geriatric Patients Attending Psychiatric OPD of Tertiary Care Hospital

Authors: Rameshwar S Manhas, Gaurav S Manhas, Angli Manhas, Jagdish R Thappa, Rukhsana Akhter, Rishabh Sharma

 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v7i6.85

Abstract

Background: The phenomenon in which older individuals form a proportionately larger share of the total population in a community is referred to as population aging. The rise in the proportion of the ageing population represents one of the most significant demographic shifts in history.

Aims: To find out various psychiatric morbidities among geriatric patients.

Materials & Methods: The present study is a hospital based, observational and cross-sectional study which was conducted in the Out Patient Department (OPD) of the Government Psychiatric Diseases Hospital, Jammu. After meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria a total of 362 patients were selected for the study. The sociodemographic characteristics of the patient were noted in a separate sheet and final psychiatric diagnosis was made according to DSM 5.

Results: The mean age of patients in this study was 67.7 years. Maximum no. of patients i.e. 61.6% patients were between 60-69 years, females were 57.2%, 60.5% patients were from urban areas. About 53.9% patients were suffering from depression followed by anxiety disorder 15.5%, alcohol dependence (8%), bipolar affective disorder (9.1%), schizophrenia (4.7%), dementia (5.8%) and other psychiatric disorders (3%).

Conclusion: From present study, it has been concluded that depression is the most common morbidity among the geriatric patients. Therefore there is need to give special focus on mental health of the elderly as it is a neglected area in our country.

Keywords: Depression, Old age, Stigma.

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Corresponding Author

Gaurav S Manhas

Resident, Department of Radiodiagnosis, Government Medical College Jammu, J&K, India