Depression Major Cause for Death in the Elderly Living in the Community
[19 July 2004 - Medical News Today - UK] A new study which focused on depression in elderly people living in the community and not in assisted-living facilities or nursing homes found that depression and its symptoms have been shown to accelerate death in many elderly people. The study, involved 250 participants in a community health program. At the start of the study, researchers determined the presence of depression and then did so again at 18 months. At the beginning, 29 percent of the people had depression. Among those individuals, 26 percent died during the follow-up period compared with 17 percent of those with some lesser signs of depression. ...