Depression, perceived loneliness and partial functional impairment among older adults

Introduction: Depression is a significant public health problem among aged in all over the world. The researchers were keen to understand whether the elderly residing in rural areas of South Karnataka are affected with depression and if so whether it is correlated with their feeling of loneliness and health/activity levels. Aim: The study aimed to determine the prevalence of depression, perceived loneliness and partial functional impairment among older adults and to find out the relationship between these variables. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 600 older adults aged 60 years and above from three villages of Udupi Taluk, Udupi district of south India. Demographic proforma, Geriatric Depression Scale, University of California Los Angeles loneliness scale and Activities of daily living assessment scale were used to collect the data. Descriptive (frequency and percentage) and inferential (Karl Pearson correlation and Chi-square association) statistics were used to analyse the data. Results: The prevalence of depression was 40.16%. A 23 (3.8%) subjects perceived low degree of loneliness, and 6 (1%) subjects perceived moderately high degree of loneliness. It was also found that 20(3.3%) subjects required minimum help and 1(0.2%) subject was completely dependent on their activities of daily living. There was modest negative correlation between loneliness and partial functional impairment (r=-0.018) but, no significant correlation was found between depression and perceived loneliness. Conclusion: Study concluded that the elderly living in rural India also might be affected with depression and the depression may not be related to their perception of loneliness and partial functional impairment.