Neurotic depression in the elderly

Abstract

Depression is a common condition in the geriatric population. A retrospective study of 30 elderly patients suffering from neurotic depression, who were admitted consecutively to a general hospital psychiatric ward, showed a predominance of females (n = 21) over males (n = 9) and young-old (65 to 74 years, n = 22) more than old-old (75 years or over, n = 8). Their ages ranged from 65 to 85 years with a mean of 71.6 years, SD 5.5 years. Co-existing physical disorders were present in every patient, the average being 1.8 per patient, and half (n = 15) had two or more physical disorders. Cardiovascular diseases (e.g. ischaemic heart disease and hypertension) and diabetes mellitus were present in about seven-eighths of the patients. The two commonest symptoms were low mood (n = 18, 60%) and vague somatic complaints inexplicable by any physical pathology (n = 19, 63%). Sleep disturbance bothered 12 patients (40%), while nine (30%) had attempted suicide. Twenty patients (67%) were prescribed antidepressants and 13 (43%) received benzodiazepines in low dosages, mainly as hypnotics. Electroconvulsive therapy was necessary for two patients with high suicidal risk. The mean duration of admission was 15.3 days, SD 12.9 days.