title: Sixteen-month evaluation of depressive symptomatology in older adults.
abstract: We examined the prevalence of depressive symptoms over time in a sample of community-residing older adults at baseline, 2 months, 6 months, and 14 months. The nonprobability sample (N = 222) was 90% female, 87% Caucasian, 15% Hispanic, and 12% African American with an average age of 75 years. If depressive symptoms had been measured at only one time, 19% of the sample would have scored above the cutoff versus 39% scoring above the cutoff when measured at all 4 periods. The findings provide evidence that depressive symptoms in older adults are variable and fluctuate over time. The significance of this research was the longitudinal evaluation of depressive symptoms in community-residing elders.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at Austin, School of Nursing, TX, USA. gmcdougall@mail.nur.utexas.edu
authors.forename: Graham J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: McDougall
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Phillip W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Vaughan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors