Abstract

RODRIGUEZ GARCIA, Mislay; BORIS SAVIGNE, Deisy; RODRIGUEZ OBRE, Omar  and  RODRIGUEZ ARIAS, Orestes D. Some clinical epidemiological aspects of depression in the elderly. MEDISAN [online]. 2009, vol.13, n.5. ISSN 1029-3019.

A descriptive, prospective and longitudinal study of 50 old men assisted in the consultation of Psychiatry of "Dr. Joaquín Castillo Duany" Teaching Provincial Hospital from Santiago de Cuba, was carried out from December, 2006 to December, 2007, to identify some clinical epidemiological aspects of depression in these patients. Among the main results the most outstanding were: the female sex, the age group of 60 - 65 years, the widows and the single patients. There was prevalence of the severe depression, mainly due to sleep disorder, body distress, irritability, hypochondriac complaints, weight loss, tiredness, memory disturbance and agitations. It was confirmed that the severity of the depression was closely related to a high suicidal risk and that the depressive symptoms of somatic nature make difficult its clinical recognition, that is why it was recommended to take them into account to be able to establish a correct diagnosis.

Keywords : DEPRESSION [epidemiology]; AGED; SUICIDE, ATTEMPTED; SLEEP DISORDERS; WEIGHT LOSS.

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