Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms Among an Elderly Finnish Population

Abstract

The prevalence of depressive symptoms among a population (N = 1529) aged 60 years or over and living in the community of Ähtäri, middle west Finland, was screened by questionnaires, including the Zung self-rating depression scale (SDS). Altogether 35 percent of men and 39 percent of women scored 40 SDS raw sum points or more, and 8 percent of men and 10 percent of women scored 50 points or more. The mean of the raw sum of the SDS scores was 36.2 ± 8.5 for men and 37.7 ± 8.6 for women. Women aged between 60 and 69 years scored significantly less in the SDS than older women. Statistically significant differences were not found between the age groups among men. The results showed only prevalences of depressive symptoms, and no conclusions about prevalence of depression could be made.