A study of the effect of age on depressivity in Bulgarian urban population.
OBJECTIVE
Depression is the most prevalent mental disorder in the population. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of age on depressivity.


METHODS
The study is community-based survey and includes 12,600 persons over 15 years of age. The design is multi-stage randomized cluster double-sampling. The short self-evaluating screening test for depression of Roglev (STD-1-R) was administered. Gathered data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Student's t-test, ANOVA with Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference Test and chi2-test with Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, using SPSS 10.0.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of depressivity increases steadily with age. The lowest rate of depressivity is found in the 15-45 age group, while the highest rate--in the senior age group.
Kolchakova
Penka Y
PY
College of Medicine at Medical University, Plovdiv. pkolchakova@hotmail.com
Akabaliev
Valentin H
VH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002031:Bulgaria / Q000453:epidemiology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D011336:Probability; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014505:Urban Population