title: Depression and anxiety among middle-aged women: A community-based study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anxiety and depressive disorders constitute a substantial proportion of the global burden of disease and are projected to form the second most common cause of disability by 2020.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the level of depression and anxiety among middle age women and the possible factors behind it.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 180 women aged 40-60 years were selected by proportionate sampling technique. Age, education, marital status, socioeconomic status, age at marriage, age at menopause, weight and height were noted. Zung-self-rating scales were used for calculating levels of depression and anxiety in these women. The data were analyzed by using statistical software SPSS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The level of syndromal depression and anxiety was found to be 86.7% and 88.9%, respectively. Most of the subjects had the moderate type of depression (49.5%) followed by mild (29.4%) and severe depression (7.8%). While in case of anxiety, most of the subjects (69.4%) had a mild form of anxiety and 17.8% had moderate anxiety level. A significant difference was observed in the level of depression with respect to marital status (P = 0.009) and in the level of anxiety with respect to age (P = 0.021) in the study subjects. On applying logistic regression, none of the factors studied were found to be significant variables for anxiety or depression in the study population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Depression and anxiety are prevalent among the middle-aged women in rural Punjab. Provision of mental health services in this group is essential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: Priya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bansal
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: Anurag
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chaudhary
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Soni
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: Sarit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: Vikram Kumar
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: Pushapindra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kaushal
keywords: Anxiety; depression; middle-aged women