Community study of depression in old age in Taiwan

Prevalence, life events and socio-demographic correlates

CHONG, MIAN-YOON
CHEN, CHWEN-CHENG
TSANG, HIN-YEUNG
YEH, TZUNG-LIEH
CHEN, CHENG-SHENG
LEE, YI-HUI
TANG, TZE-CHUN
LO, HSIN-YI

MIAN-YOON CHONG, MRCPsych, HIN-YEUNG TSANG, MD, CHENG-SHEN CHEN, MD, TZE-CHUN TANG, MD, Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; CHWEN-CHENG CHEN, MRCPsych, TZUNG-LIEH YEH, MD, YI-HUI LEE, MD, HSIN-YI LO, MD, Department of Psychiatry, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

Correspondence: Dr Mian-Yoon Chong, Associate Professor and Director, Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Medical University, 100 Shih-Chuan First Road, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan. Tel: 886 7 3208219; fax: 886 7 3112492; e-mail: [email protected]

(First received 4 November 1999, final revision 25 April 2000, accepted 19 June 2000)

British Journal of Psychiatry 178:p 29-35, January 2001.

Background

Published studies of prevalence of depression in old age in Taiwan have yielded equivocal results.

Aims

To study the prevalence of depressive disorders among community-dwelling elderly; further, to assess socio-demographic correlates and life events in relation to depression.

Method

A randomised sample of 1500 subjects aged 65 and over was selected from three communities. Research psychiatrists conducted all assessments using the Geriatric Mental State Schedule. The diagnosis of depression was made with the GMS-AGECAT (Automated Geriatric Examination for Computerised Assisted Taxonomy); data on life events were collected with the Taiwanese version of the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule.

Results

One-month prevalence of psychiatric disorders was 37.7%, with 15.3% depressive neurosis and 5.9% major depression. A high risk of depressive disorders was found among widows with a low educational level living in the urban community, and among those with physical illnesses.

Conclusions

Contrary to most previous reports, we found that the prevalence of depressive disorders among the elderly in the community in Taiwan is high and comparable to rates reported in some studies of UK samples.

Declaration of interest

The National Health Research Institute of Taiwan funded this project.