title: Affective disorders among elderly general practice patients. A two-phase survey in Brescia, Italy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We investigated the prevalence of depression among 255 elderly general practice patients and the practitioners' performance in identifying depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Elderly patients attending 14 general practices entered a screening phase with GHQ-12 and MMSE. Those positive were then interviewed with GMS and HAS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  DSM-III-R major depression affected 22.4%, dysthymic disorder 6.3%, not otherwise specified (n.o.s.) depression 7.1%. General practitioners performed fairly well: identification index 88.4%, accuracy 0.49, bias 1.85.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Depression was markedly high. A selective progression of depressed elderly from the community to general practitioners is implied.
authors: Dipartimento Materno-Infantile, Università di Brescia, Italy.
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Turrina
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Caruso
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Este
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Lucchi
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Fazzari
authors: M E
authors: ME
authors: Dewey
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Ermentini
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D005194:Family Practice / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales