Late-life depression and quality of life in a geriatric evaluation and management unit: an exploratory study

BMC Geriatrics

Research Article

Yi-Jing Tang¹  Chu-Sheng Lin¹  Shu-Hui Yang²  Yi-Ming Chen³  Hsien-Yuan Lane⁴  Jui-Hung Lin⁵  Min-Wei Huang⁶  Deng-Wu Wang⁶ 

[1] Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, No. 160, Section 3, Taichung-Kang Road, 40705, Taichung, Taiwan;Department of Family Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, No. 160, Section 3, Taichung-Kang Road, 40705, Taichung, Taiwan;Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, No. 160, Section 3, Taichung-Kang Road, 40705, Taichung, Taiwan;Department of Nursing, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, No. 160, Section 3, Taichung-Kang Road, 40705, Taichung, Taiwan;Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, No. 160, Section 3, Taichung-Kang Road, 40705, Taichung, Taiwan;Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, No. 160, Section 3, Taichung-Kang Road, 40705, Taichung, Taiwan;China Medical University, Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science, No. 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung, Taiwan;Department of Psychiatry, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan;China Medical University, Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science, No. 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung, Taiwan;Division of Psychiatry, Chia Yi branch, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, No. 600, Sec. 2, Shixian Road, West District, Chiayi City, Taiwan;Division of Psychiatry, Chia Yi branch, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, No. 600, Sec. 2, Shixian Road, West District, Chiayi City, Taiwan;

关键词: Elderly;    Late-life depression;    Geriatric depression;    Quality of life;    EQ-5D;    Geriatric evaluation and management unit;    GEMU;    ADL;    GDS;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2318-14-77

 received in 2014-02-11, accepted in 2014-06-12,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundLate-life depression is common among elderly patients. Ignorance of the health problem, either because of under-diagnosis or under-treatment, causes additional medical cost and comorbidity. For a better health and quality of life (QoL), evaluation, prevention and treatment of late-life depression in elderly patients is essential.MethodsThis study examined (1) the differences of clinical characteristics, degree of improvement on QoL and functionality on discharge between non-depressed and depressed elderly inpatients and (2) factors associated with QoL on discharge. Four hundred and seventy-one elderly inpatients admitted to a geriatric evaluation and management unit (GEMU) from 2009 to 2010 were enrolled in this study. Comprehensive geriatric assessment including the activities of daily living (ADL), geriatric depression scale, and mini-mental state examination were conducted. QoL was assessed using the European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions and the European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions Visual Analog Scale on discharge. Information on hospital stay and Charlson comorbidity index were obtained by chart review. Chi-square tests, independent t-tests, Mann–Whitney U tests and multiple linear regressions were used in statistical analysis.ResultsWorse QoL and ADL on discharge were found among the depressed. Depressive symptoms, female gender, duration of hospital stay, and rehabilitation were significant factors affecting QoL on discharge in linear regression models.ConclusionsThe importance of the diagnosis and treatment of depression among elderly inpatients should not be overlooked during hospital stay and after discharge. Greater efforts should be made to improve intervention with depressed elderly inpatients.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Lin et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.