Affective disorders among elderly general practice patients. A two-phase survey in Brescia, Italy.
BACKGROUND: We investigated the prevalence of depression among 255 elderly general practice patients and the practitioners' performance in identifying depression. METHOD: Elderly patients attending 14 general practices entered a screening phase with GHQ-12 and MMSE. Those positive were then interviewed with GMS and HAS. RESULTS: DSM-III-R major depression affected 22.4%, dysthymic disorder 6.3%, not otherwise specified (n.o.s.) depression 7.1%. General practitioners performed fairly well: identification index 88.4%, accuracy 0.49, bias 1.85. CONCLUSIONS: Depression was markedly high. A selective progression of depressed elderly from the community to general practitioners is implied.
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