Late-life chronic depression: a 399-case study in private practice.
OBJECTIVE
Aims of the study were to find the prevalence of chronic depression in elderly patients compared with younger patients, and to compare chronic depression between elderly and younger patients, to find if there were clinical differences. A major feature of the study was the inclusion of a large number of bipolar II patients, usually not included in previous studies.


METHODS
Three hundred and ninety-nine consecutive unipolar (N=200) and bipolar II (N=199) depression outpatients were interviewed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV and depression rating scales in a private practice.


RESULTS
Chronic depression was more common in elderly patients than in younger patients (53.6% vs 40.1%, p=0.0299). Late-life chronic depression patients had later age at onset, longer duration of illness, fewer bipolar II cases, more unipolar cases and more relapses than younger chronic depression patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that late-life depression is more likely to be chronic than depression in younger patients. The subtyping of chronic depression according to age seems supported by a different age at onset and some clinical differences.
Benazzi
F
F
Department of Psychiatry, National Health Service, Public Hospital 'Morgagni', Forlì, Italy. f.benazzi@fo.nettuno.it
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003863:Depression / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011331:Private Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012008:Recurrence; D013997:Time Factors