The impact of depression on the quality of life in elderly people

Abstract

Introduction and objective. Depression is among the most common diseases in the elderly. It affects ca. 15-20% of people aged over 65 years. The symptomatology of depression is manifested mainly by decreased mood, intellectual skills, concentration and self-esteem, anhedonia, change in appetite, sleep disorders, and the feeling of fatigue and loss of energy. The aim of the article is to assess the impact of depression on the quality of life in elderly people. Materials and method. The anonymous study involved 140 (100%) hospitalized patients of a geriatric ward, most of whom (73.57%) were women. The respondents were 65-88 years old, with the largest group (54.29%) in the age range 76-85 years. Results. Mild depression was found in 37.86%, and severe depression in 12.14% of the respondents. Most seniors (42.14%) assessed their quality of life as good. More than half of the subjects (55.71%) declared self-assurance, 45.00% rarely experienced low spirits, despair, fear, or decreased mood, 40.00% were not satisfied with their health, 37.14% were not satisfied with their sleep quality, in 22.14% pain significantly influenced their everyday life. Patients with depression indicated worse assessments of their quality of life in the somatic, psychological, social, and environmental domains (p < 0.001). Statistically significant relationships were observed between quality of life assessment in the somatic domain and the seniors' health status (p < 0.05), as well as between quality of life assessment in the environmental domain and the number of diseases (p = 0.034). Conclusions. Patients with depression scored their quality of life worse in all domains. In elderly people, quality of life depends on their health status and the number of diagnosed diseases. Seniors living with families indicated better assessments of their quality of life.