A study of psychiatric morbidity in geriatric population living in old age home and community

Background: Globally there is an increase in elderly population. Psychiatric morbidity is also increasing in elderly owing to increased longevity and changing social circumstances. Aims: To study the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in rural geriatric population living in an old age home and in the community. Methodology: Mini Mental Status Examination, Geriatric Depression Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale were used to screen for psychiatric disorders. Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression was used to quantify depression. SPSS 20 was used for statistical analysis. Results: Psychiatric disorders were more prevalent in individuals aged > 80 years(72%). Predominant psychiatric diagnoses were depression, dementia, somatic complaints, alcohol dependence, panic attacks and GAD. Presence of dementia was associated with increased age. Depression was associated with Low education status, female sex, involuntary admission in old age home, presence of physical illness and visual impairment. Individuals in old age home had lesser prevalence of psychiatric disorders than those in community. Conclusion: The overall prevalence of psychiatric morbidity was 59.2%. Psychiatric morbidity was less in old age home population owing to better availability of care, less number of social stressors etc. The study highlights the importance of delivery of structured care facilities in elderly population.