Affective disorders among elderly general practice patients. A two-phase survey in Brescia, Italy.
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.
Turrina
C
C
Dipartimento Materno-Infantile, Università di Brescia, Italy.
Caruso
R
R
Este
R
R
Lucchi
F
F
Fazzari
G
G
Dewey
M E
ME
Ermentini
A
A
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