Prevalence of depression in residents of gerontology centre in Sarajevo

Depressive disorder, as a major problem of public health, takes high fourth place in its prevalence in general population, and is considered to be the second most frequent health problem of femalepopulation. Depression is the most frequent mental problem of persons in their third age of life. The aim of this study is to evaluate prevalence of depression and establish the ratio between the current number ofdiagnosed and of unrecognised depression among the residents of Gerontology Centre in Sarajevo.Methods: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study undertaken throughout May and June 2011 on the sample of 150 residents of “The Gerontology Centre“ in Sarajevo that were above 65 years of age. The following instruments were used for the research: the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), modified questionnaire consisting of two parts (general data and data related to health state), and the medical records of the residents. For statistic analysis of data was used the SPSS program for Windows.Results: According to GDS, prevalence of depression was 65.3%, out of which mild depression occurred in 46.7% cases and severe depression in 18.7%. The prevalence of verified (diagnosed) depression was 11.3per cents.Conclusions: According to the GD scale, unrecognised depressions seem to be almost six times more frequent (65.3:11%) than is the case with depressions diagnosed in medical records of the protegees of theGerontology Centre in Sarajevo. Timely recognition of depression and its treating in institutions for protection of health of persons in third age of life can substantially improve the quality of life of these patients.