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Dementia and depression among nursing home residents in Lebanon: a pilot study
Author(s) -
Chahine L. M.,
Bijlsma A.,
Hospers A. P. N.,
Chemali Z.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.1663
Subject(s) - dementia , depression (economics) , geriatric depression scale , medicine , demographics , population , psychiatry , nursing homes , arabic , gerontology , geriatric psychiatry , demography , nursing , environmental health , depressive symptoms , disease , anxiety , linguistics , philosophy , sociology , economics , macroeconomics
Background The proportion of elderly in the Lebanese population is 7.1% and this is expected to increase to 10.2% by the year 2025. The nursing home (NH) population in Lebanon has not been studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of dementia and depression among a portion of nursing home residents (NHR) in Lebanon and describe the characteristics of NHR afflicted with dementia and depression. Method Of 200 NHR from three NH in Lebanon, 117 were selected by random sampling. Data on demographics and medical history were collected. An Arabic version of the Mini‐Mental Status Examination and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were administered. Results Our final sample consisted of 102 NHR. Sixty‐one (59.8%) had dementia of some kind. Seventeen (27.9%) had mild dementia, 14 (22.9%) had moderate dementia, and 30 (49.2%) had severe dementia. Forty‐five (57.7%) of the NHR tested had depression as measured by a GDS score of more than 10. Conclusions Dementia and depression were present in more than half of the NHR in our sample. Our results have important implications, being the first to be collected in the Lebanese community. Screening NHR for dementia and depression on admission and at regular time intervals is a must. More studies targeting all aspects of the elderly population in Lebanon are needed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.