Prevalence of depression among elderly people in the Al-Nasiriya province

Background
Depression is one of the major diseases that can lead to undesirable results, including decreased productivity, more demands on healthcare resources and sometimes even death.

Objectives
The purpose of this research was to examine the incidence of depression and risk variables among residents of the Al-Nasiriya province who are 60 year of age and older.

Material and methods
This community-based cross-sectional survey was carried out between 1 February 2022 and 1 May 2022. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) – the short version (with 15 items) – and a form of socio-demographic variables were used to interview 150 elderly people from the general population and primary healthcare clinics in the Al-Nasiriya province in the south of Iraq.

Results
Depression is more prevalent in older people than in younger people. 56.6% of the population is considered not to be depressed, 43.33% are de-pressed, 22.33% are mildly depressed, 11.33% are moderately depressed, and 9% are severely depressed. This research shows that being a woman, being between the ages of 60 and 69, being retired, being married, being illiterate, having owned a home, suffering from a chronic illness and taking multiple medications daily, not having a physical disability or a family history of mental illness, not smoking and having a large family are all significant risk factors for depression. There is a substantial correlation when the p-value is less than 0.05.

Conclusions
The results of this study show that more than a third of elderly people have mild depression.