Increased mortality rates in late-life depression.
Physical illness at referral and subsequent mortality were studied in a group of elderly patients with depression, and compared with age/sex-matched controls. The depressed group was significantly less well at first interview, and had a significantly higher 4-year mortality. When the effect of physical illness was controlled, the depressed patients (particularly the men) still had a significantly higher 4-year mortality, suggesting that the greater mortality in the depressed group was not due to differences in physical health alone.
Murphy
E
E
Division of Psychiatry, UMDS (Guy's Campus), London.
Smith
R
R
Lindesay
J
J
Slattery
J
J
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002423:Cause of Death; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010809:Physical Fitness; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors