title: Antidepressant use and associated factors among the elderly: the Bambuí Project.
abstract: This study examined the factors associated with antidepressant use among community-dwelling elderly individuals. Data collected from the Bambuí Project, a population-based study on aging and health with a cohort of 1,606 elderly individuals, were used. Gender, age, education, marital status, household income and cohabitation status were the sociodemographic characteristics investigated. Health conditions included self-reported health, number of chronic diseases, depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment and functional disability. Poisson regression with robust variance was used to test associations and to estimate prevalence ratios with 95% confidence intervals. The prevalence of antidepressant use was 8.4%. After multivariate analysis, antidepressant use was associated with the female gender (PR = 2.96; 95%CI 1.82-4.81), being single or divorced (PR = 0.48; 95%CI 0.25-0.91), cognitive impairment (PR = 0.44; 95%CI 0.24-0.84) and worse self-reported health (poor/very poor) (PR=1.86; 95%CI 1.11-3.10). The results are similar to those observed in several other studies conducted in higher-income countries and suggest that self-reported health in the elderly population of Bambuí is a key factor in the decision to use antidepressants.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Epidemiologia e Antropologia Médica, Instituto René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil, aloy@cpqrr.fiocruz.br.
authors.forename: Adriano Roberto Tarifa
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Vicente
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Epidemiologia e Antropologia Médica, Instituto René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil, aloy@cpqrr.fiocruz.br.
authors.forename: Érico
authors.initials: É
authors.lastname: Castro-Costa
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
authors.forename: Breno Satler
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Diniz
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Epidemiologia e Antropologia Médica, Instituto René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil, aloy@cpqrr.fiocruz.br.
authors.forename: Josélia Oliveira Araújo
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Firmo
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Epidemiologia e Antropologia Médica, Instituto René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil, aloy@cpqrr.fiocruz.br.
authors.forename: Maria Fernanda
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Lima-Costa
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Epidemiologia e Antropologia Médica, Instituto René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil, aloy@cpqrr.fiocruz.br.
authors.forename: Antônio Ignácio de
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Loyola Filho
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001938:Brazil; D003071:Cognition; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents