The Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Depression and It’s Relationship With Vascular Diseases Among 65 Plus Patients; A Retrospective Record Control Study

Özet

Öz Aim; Vasküler depression proposes a reciprocal relationship between vascular diseasesand depression . Thus depressive symptoms inelderly patients might be caused by underlyingvascular mechanisms. This is a retrospectiverecord control study of sixty-five plus patientswho admitted to geropsychiatry outpatient unitof Ankara University Psychiatry Department.The aim of the study is to investigate thesociodemographic characteristics of depressionand it’s relationship with vascular diseases ingeriatric outpatients. First the previous literatureon this topic will be briefly summarised then theresults of the present study will be discussedwithin the frame of the previous literature.Method; The records of 508 patients whoadmitted to the gero-psychiatry unit for any reason were included in the study. The distrubutionof psychiatric disorders and sociodemographiccharacteristics of the patients with and withoutdepression were analysed. Then the groupswith and without vascular diseases were compared for depression rates. Results andDiscussion; Depression was the most frequentdisorder within the group. Lower rates ofdepression were found in the oldest old patientsand patinets who were retired. Higher depression rates were found in female patients. Levelof education and civil state of the patients wereunrelated to depression rates. The rates ofdepression were significantly higher in patientswith vascular diseases. The results of the studywere in line with the previous studies. Thesefindings may be parallel to vascular hypothesisof depression