Changing prevalence and treatment of depression among older people over two decades

Arthur, Antony, Savva, George, Barnes, Linda E., Borjian-Boroojeny, Ayda, Dening, Tom, Jagger, Carol, Matthews, Fiona E., Robinson, Louise and Brayne, Carol and Cognitive Function and Ageing Studies (CFAS) Collaboration (2020) Changing prevalence and treatment of depression among older people over two decades. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 216 (1). pp. 49-54. ISSN 0007-1250

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Abstract

Background Depression is a leading cause of disability, with older people particularly susceptible to poor outcomes.Aims To investigate whether the prevalence of depression and antidepressant use have changed across two decades in older people.Method The Cognitive Function and Ageing Studies (CFAS I and CFAS II) are two English population-based cohort studies of older people aged ≥65 years, with baseline measurements for each cohort conducted two decades apart (between 1990 and 1993 and between 2008 and 2011). Depression was assessed by the Geriatric Mental State examination and diagnosed with the Automated Geriatric Examination for Computer-Assisted Taxonomy algorithm.Results In CFAS I, 7635 people aged ≥65 years were interviewed, of whom 1457 were diagnostically assessed. In CFAS II, 7762 people were interviewed and diagnostically assessed. Age-standardised depression prevalence in CFAS II was 6.8% (95% CI 6.3-7.5%), representing a non-significant decline from CFAS I (risk ratio 0.82, 95% CI 0.64-1.07, P = 0.14). At the time of CFAS II, 10.7% of the population (95% CI 10.0-11.5%) were taking antidepressant medication, more than twice that of CFAS I (risk ratio 2.79, 95% CI 1.96-3.97, P < 0.0001). Among care home residents, depression prevalence was unchanged, but the use of antidepressants increased from 7.4% (95% CI 3.8-13.8%) to 29.2% (95% CI 22.6-36.7%).Conclusions A substantial increase in the proportion of the population reporting taking antidepressant medication is seen across two decades for people aged ≥65 years. However there was no evidence for a change in age-specific prevalence of depression.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	adults,age,cognitive function,cohort,disorders,depressive disorders,england,follow-up,patterns,population,trends,antidepressants,epidemiology,older people,primary care
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Health Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Dementia & Complexity in Later Life Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Norwich Institute for Healthy Aging Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	08 Aug 2019 08:30
Last Modified:	03 Dec 2023 02:41
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/71914
DOI:	10.1192/bjp.2019.193

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