Analysis on depression symptom of elderly and middle-aged people and its relationship to some relevant factors

  Objective   To study prevalence rate of depression symptom and its relationship to family function and other factors of the elderly and middle-aged people in communities.

  Methods   Cluster sampling was used to sample 304 residents aged 55 or over, and their depression symptom and family functions were evaluated with self-Rating Depression Scale(SDS) and APGAR repectively.

  Results   The prevalence of depression symptom was 21.4%.There were significant differences between subgroups in SDS mean score and prevalence of depression symptom which were classified by family function, support, age, chronic disease, spouse, and it also showed that depression symptom related to the above factors by single-variable and multivariable Logistic regression.

  Conclusion   Prevention and cure of depression could be more effective by improving family function, enhancing self-support, controlling chronic disease, and taking other relevant measures.