Abstract

BELLO, A  and  FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS MEDICAS, UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE ASUNCION. PARAGUAY. Cátedra y Servicio de Psiquiatría et al. Depressive disorder and its association with age in patients of the Department of Psychiatry, FCM- UNA. An. Fac. Cienc. Méd. (Asunción) [online]. 2015, vol.48, n.2, pp.47-58. ISSN 1816-8949.  https://doi.org/10.18004/anales/2015.048(02)47-058.

ABSTRACT Introduction: According to the World Health Organization in the world there are over 350 million people with depression. 5% of the adult population suffers from depression. Severe mental disorders affect 1.5% of the total Paraguayan population. The aim of this study was to establish the association between the presentation of depressive disorder and the patient's age (over or under 45 years of age). Materials and Methods: An observational, analytical cohort study was conducted with consecutive non-probabilistic sampling of cases of patients treated at the Department of Psychiatry of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the National University of Asuncion, in whom presented or not a depressive disorder, between the periods 2011 and 2012. The independent variables were age, sex and place of birth and the dependent variable was the presence or absence of a depressive disorder. The study included patients over 18 years, excluding those with incomplete medical histories. Results: The null hypothesis, indicating that patients with ages equal to or greater than 45 years did not have a higher prevalence of depressive disorder, was rejected with the chi-square value was of 31, 9356 (p <0.05). An odds ratio (OR) of 2.10 indicates that the estimated probability of a depressive disorder is double for those 45 and older than for those under 45 years. The relative risk (RR) indicates that those who have 45 or more years of age are 1.43 times more likely than those less than 45 years to present a depressive disorder. A stratified analysis was conducted demonstrating that sex is not a confounder, it interacts with age, making female patients more likely to suffer from a depressive disorders. Discussion: There is an association between depressive disorder and the patient's age, specifically ages higher or lower than 45 years. This could guide the psychiatrist to diagnose and to possible causes of the disorders, helping in prevention through relevant techniques according to that age group. Key Words: Depression, age, gender.

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