Depressive Symptoms in the Ageing Male Population Residing in Old Age Homes and with their Families in Punjab State

Abstract

The present study envisaged to estimate prevalence of depressive symptoms and associated risk factors in 400 male subjects (200 old age home based subjects and 200 family based subjects) aged 60 years and above. Depressive symptoms were prevalent in 68.5 percent of old age home based subjects and 31.5 percent of family based subjects. Among the former, being normal weight (B=-1.22, p<0.01), overweight (B=-1.48, p=0.01) and higher educational status (B=-3.30, p<0.001) were associated negatively, while systolic blood pressure >120mmHg and having a male child (B=0.92, p=0.03) were associated positively with depressive symptoms. In family based subjects, being overweight (B=-1.98, p<0.001), obese (B=-1.73, p<0.01) and having a male child (B=-1.34, p<0.01) were associated negatively with depressive symptoms. Underweight male elderly were at highest risk of depressive symptoms. The association of having a male child with depressive symptoms pointed towards the importance of children support in later life. Address for correspondence: Ginjinder Kaur Assistant Professor Department of Human Genetics, Punjabi University Patiala, India E-mail: ginjinderkaur@gmail.com INTRODUCTION According to the India Census (2011), the percentage of elderly population above 60 years of age has gone up from six to eight percent during 1991 to 2011, and is projected to increase to twenty percent by 2050 (United Nations 2013). The states of Kerala, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Punjab had 12.6, 11.2, 10.4 and 10.3 percent of 60+ population respectively (BKPAI 2013). These four states account for the highest percentage of the elderly population. Singh (2001) studied the ageing trends in Punjab and found that the rate of growth of the 60 plus population (2.81%) in the state is higher than that for the general population (2.10%). Given to the higher growth of elderly population, the old age dependency ratio in Indian population increased from 2001 (13.1%) to 2011 (14.2%) (Central Statistics Office 2016). Depression among elderly population is a major health concern, causing adverse effects on their health. Worldwide, depression is the leading cause of ill health and disability, and it has highest prevalence in the older adults (5.5% in male elderly) and 4.4 percent of world population is suffering from depression, eighteen percent increase was observed in people with depression between 2005 and 2015 (WHO 2017). Depression is a common mental disorder that is associated with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration (WHO 2017). For healthy ageing of the older adult, both psychological and physical wellness are equally important (Johnson et al. 2011). Depression is a leading cause of loss of productivity (Ebmeier et al. 2006) and physical disability among older adults (Lin and Wu 2011; Bowen and Ruch 2015). Elderly suffering from depressive symptoms were at increased risk of mortality (Edward and Munro 2009). About two percent of the patients suffering from depression commit suicide (Bostwick and Pankratz 2000). Improvement in depressive symptoms dilutes the negative effect of cognitive decline (Li and Conwell 2009). Reducing depression and physical disability, both promote healthy ageing (Jeste et al. 2013). Recent changes in occupational structure, migration, urbanization and decline in the family size, have changed the family structure, where adult children do not always live with their parents. The preference for home-based care is changing. In India, the public provision of the old age care has always been less, and the famEthno Med, 12(4): 261-269 (2018) DOI: 10.31901/24566772.2018/12.04.565 © Kamla-Raj 2018 262 KULVIR SINGH, S. P. SINGH AND GINJINDER KAUR ily system played a key role in the protection of the old. The children are the major source of social support to the parents (Knodel and Debavalya 1997). About 2.73 percent of elderly care in India occurs in institutionalized or formal setting (Jamuna 2003) and only six percent Indian elderly are staying in the setting where their immediate relatives are not living (Rajan and Kumar 2003). Elderly not staying with their children are at higher risk of adverse psychological and cognitive outcomes (Jariwala et al. 2010; Sethi et al. 2013). Social support in the later ages of life reduced the risk of depression (Wan et al. 2013). Psychological health and quality of life among old age home based elderly subjects depends upon the various psychological, social, and economic factors (Reddy et al. 2012; Kumar et al. 2017). In the light of these changes, living arrangements of the elderly have emerged as an important area of research. Therefore, there is a need to determine various factors associated with the psychological health status of old age home based subjects and family based subjects. The present study was conducted with the view to determine various factors associated with depressive symptoms among the old age home based and family based elderly subjects, aged 60 years and above.