Prevalência de depressão em idosos assistidos pela Estratégia de Saúde da Família.

Abstract

The old age is the fastest growing age group. Proportionally, the appearance of diseases that reach this specific group is increased, standing out depression, most common mental illness in elderly people. Sets up a major public health problem, being often underdiagnosed and untreated. The main objective of this research is to determine the prevalence of depression in elderly people registered in a Family Health Strategy of Cajazeiras city, PB. It is a descriptive field research with a quantitative approach in a sample of 153 elderly. The data collection was carried out through home interviews using socio-demographic questionnaire and application of the Geriatric Depression Scale of Yesavage with 15 items (GDS-15). To evaluate the associations between depressive symptoms and sociodemographic variables we used the Poisson Regression statistical model, where gross prevalence ratios were calculated and adjusted with a confidence interval of 95%. It was identified prevalence of depression in 28.1% of the elderly, where the most important associations in this study were female sex, widowed and divorced marital status, irreligious people, with chronic diseases, retirees and pensioners. Living with partners and family members proved to be a protective factor. When done multivariate regression analysis, the variables that remained significant for higher prevalence of depression were irreligious people and with chronic disease. It was concluded that strategies aimed at identification of depressive symptoms and associated factors are important in the elderly health care and may help health professionals, mainly at primary care level, to understand the reality of these individuals, as well as early diagnosis and intervene appropriately in the prevention or treatment of disease.