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Psychiatric symptoms are not an independent mortality risk factor in community-living elderly people

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2014

Sergio Benabarre ,
Javier Olivera ,
Teófilo Lorente ,
Mariano Rodriguez ,
Alfonso Barros-Loscertales ,
Carmelo Pelegrín ,
Paula Claver ,
Izarbe Galindo ,
María Labarta  and
Jara Rodriguez
Sergio Benabarre*
Affiliation:
Unidad Docente Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria, Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud (iacs)
Javier Olivera
Affiliation:
SALUD. Departamento de Psiquiatría, Hospital San Jorge de Huesca, Huesca, Spain
Teófilo Lorente
Affiliation:
Unidad Docente Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria, Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud (iacs)
Mariano Rodriguez
Affiliation:
Unidad Docente Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria, Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud (iacs)
Alfonso Barros-Loscertales
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicología Básica, Clínica y Psicobiología, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain
Carmelo Pelegrín
Affiliation:
SALUD. Departamento de Psiquiatría, Hospital San Jorge de Huesca, Huesca, Spain
Paula Claver
Affiliation:
Unidad Docente Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria, Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud (iacs)
Izarbe Galindo
Affiliation:
Unidad Docente Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria, Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud (iacs)
María Labarta
Affiliation:
Unidad Docente Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria, Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud (iacs)
Jara Rodriguez
Affiliation:
Unidad Docente Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria, Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud (iacs)
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr. Sergio Benabarre, Unidad Docente Medicina Familiar y Comuniatria, C/Felipe Coscolla 9, Edificio Administrativo, 1a Planta, 22004 Huesca, Spain. Phone: +0034-974-247-402; Fax: +0034-974-211-092. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Background:

Mortality risk factors have attracted great research interest in recent years. Physical illness is strongly associated with mortality risk in elderly people. Furthermore, a relationship between mortality risk and psychiatric disease in the elderly has gained research interest.

Methods:

This is a prospective longitudinal multicenter study. A sample of 324 participants was selected as a representative sample of community members aged 65 years and older and living in Huesca (Spain). The following information was collected: affiliation data, severity of physical illness, psychosocial, and psychiatric factors. Statistical analyses were completed with a multivariate analysis in order to control possible confounding variables related to mortality.

Results:

Of the initially selected sample, 293 participants were assessed. Sixty-four participants died (21.8%, 95% CI [16.9%, 26.7%]), 5.3% annual rate, and 46.1% showed symptomatology of mental disorders. Older people have eight times greater risk of mortality. The risk increased 53 times in patients affected by several physical illness. No relationship between cognitive dysfunction and depressive symptomatology was observed. In fact, physical condition was associated with depression, and the percentage of participants with depressive symptoms increased according to the severity of physical illness.

Conclusions:

Severity of physical illness and age are independently and directly associated with mortality in the elderly people. Therefore, severity of physical illness seems to be a crucial factor in the bi-directional association between mortality and depression, acting as a risk factor independently for both. So the relationship between depression and mortality can be affected by the severity of physical illness.

Keywords

depressionagingdisabilityprimary care
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 26 , Issue 6 , June 2014 , pp. 911 - 920
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2014 

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