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Deriving prevalence estimates of depressive symptoms throughout middle and old age in those living in the community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 November 2011

Richard A. Burns ,
Peter Butterworth ,
Timothy D. Windsor ,
Mary Luszcz ,
Lesley A. Ross  and
Kaarin J. Anstey
Richard A. Burns*
Affiliation:
Centre for Mental Health Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Peter Butterworth
Affiliation:
Centre for Mental Health Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Timothy D. Windsor
Affiliation:
Flinders Centre for Ageing Studies and Department of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Mary Luszcz
Affiliation:
Flinders Centre for Ageing Studies and Department of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Lesley A. Ross
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Edward R. Roybal Center for Translational Research on Aging and Mobility, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Kaarin J. Anstey
Affiliation:
Centre for Mental Health Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr Richard A. Burns, Centre for Mental Health Research, Building 63, Eggleston Road, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia. Phone: +61 2 6125 3132; Fax: +61 2 6125 0733. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Background: There is considerable debate about the prevalence of depression in old age. Epidemiological surveys and clinical studies indicate mixed evidence for the association between depression and increasing age. We examined the prevalence of probable depression in the middle aged to the oldest old in a project designed specifically to investigate the aging process.

Methods: Community-living participants were drawn from several Australian longitudinal studies of aging that contributed to the Dynamic Analyses to Optimise Ageing (DYNOPTA) project. Different depression scales from the contributing studies were harmonized to create a binary variable that reflected “probable depression” based on existing cut-points for each harmonized scale. Weighted prevalence was benchmarked to the Australian population which could be compared with findings from the 1997 and 2007 National Surveys of Mental Health and Well-Being (NSMHWB).

Results: In the DYNOPTA project, females were more likely to report probable depression. This was consistent across age levels. Both NSMHWB surveys and DYNOPTA did not report a decline in the likelihood of reporting probable depression for the oldest old in comparison with mid-life.

Conclusions: Inconsistency in the reports of late-life depression prevalence in previous epidemiological studies may be explained by either the exclusion and/or limited sampling of the oldest old. DYNOPTA addresses these limitations and the results indicated no change in the likelihood of reporting depression with increasing age. Further research should extend these findings to examine within-person change in a longitudinal context and control for health covariates.

Keywords

agingdepressionepidemiologyresearch design and methodology
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , March 2012 , pp. 503 - 511
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2011

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