Prevalence of Depression in Elderly Kurdish Community Residing in Boukan, Iran

Objectives: Psychological disorder, mostly depression, is one of the most frequent problems among elderly people. Prevalence of depression could be varied in different culture and ethnicity. Main goal of this study was to measure the prevalence of depression along with some other related factors in Kurdish elderly people over 60 in Boukan, Iran. Methods & Materials: This study was a descriptive, cross-sectional design. Three-hundred community- dwelling Kurdish people over 60 without cognitive impairment were selected by cluster technique, randomly. A questionnaire containing demographic information and standardized questionnaires of depression in the elderly (GDS15) were used which completed by interview. Data were interpreted with analysis of variance, t-test and chi2 in SPSS 16. Results: According to research the mean age was70.69 years (72.98 years for men and 68.26 years for women). The mean depression score was 5.94±3.405 and the prevalence of depression was 38.7% for mild depression, 16.3% for moderate depression, 7% severe depression and 38% were asymptomatic. In this study significant relationship was observed between depression score and gender (P=0.032), age (P=0.023), education (P