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Evolution of Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms and Antidepressant Use Between 1988 and 1999 in a Large Sample of Older French People: Results from the Personnes Agées Quid Study
Author(s) -
Montagnier Delphine,
BarbergerGateau Pascale,
JacqminGadda Hélène,
Dartigues JeanFrançois,
Rainfray Muriel,
Pérès Karine,
LechevallierMichel Nathalie,
FourrierRéglat Annie
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2006.00969.x
Subject(s) - medicine , depression (economics) , antidepressant , odds ratio , epidemiology , dementia , psychiatry , confidence interval , late life depression , major depressive episode , longitudinal study , demography , cohort study , logistic regression , prospective cohort study , gerontology , cohort , cognition , anxiety , disease , sociology , economics , macroeconomics , pathology
OBJECTIVES: To describe the evolution of prevalence of depressive symptoms and antidepressant use between 1988 and 1999 in a large representative sample of older community‐dwelling French people. DESIGN: Prospective cohort designed in 1988/89 to study cerebral and functional aging. SETTING: Urban and rural communities in southwestern France. PARTICIPANTS: Three thousand six hundred thirty‐seven adults aged 65 and older living in noninstitutional settings at baseline. MEASUREMENTS: Participants were interviewed 3, 5, 8, and 10 years after the initial data collection. Depressive symptomatology was evaluated using a French version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Longitudinal analysis of the prevalence of depressive symptomatology was performed using a logistic mixed model adjusted for antidepressant use, sex, age, education level, living conditions, psychiatric antecedents, drug consumption, and diagnosis of dementia. RESULTS: Over the 10 years of follow‐up, the prevalence of depressive symptomatology decreased from 13.8% to 8.3%. This decrease was statistically significant even after adjustment (odds ratio=0.88 per increased year, 95% confidence interval=0.85–0.90) and was more pronounced in subjects having reported previous depression at baseline. During the same period, antidepressant use rose from 5.2% to 11.9%, mainly due to increased use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Furthermore, the proportion of subjects who had depressive symptoms and did not use antidepressants decreased from 11.8% to 6.2%. CONCLUSION: This study suggests better management of late‐life depression in the last decade and illustrates the heterogeneity of depression disorder in late life.