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Potential for community programs to prevent depression in older people
Author(s) -
Bird Michael J,
Parslow Ruth A
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2002.tb04868.x
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , late life depression , medicine , psychiatry , disease , exacerbation , public health , gerontology , physical illness , mental health , psychology , nursing , cognition , pathology , immunology , economics , macroeconomics
Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders in older people. Sequelae include unnecessary suffering, excess physical and social disability, exacerbation of co‐existing illness, earlier death, and overuse of services. There are currently no reported public health approaches to prevent late‐life depression. Five risk factors appear susceptible to community‐level prevention programs: recurrent depression, commonly undertreated precipitants, vascular disease, functional impairments, and metabolite abnormalities. We propose three broad but interacting prevention methods: increasing literacy about late‐life depression, exercise, and dietary supplements.