71. Depression an adverse prognostic factor in geriatric cardiac inpatients

Abstract

Depression is very common among ill geriatric inpatients and could be a major factor responsible for delayed recovery, hospitalization and increased health care utilization. Study the prevalence of depression in geriatric cardiac inpatients. Determine the relationships between depression and hospitalization. A cross sectional study included 200 geriatrics (⩾65 years) inpatients in cardiac wards at King Fahad Medical City from 20th of March 2015 to 29th of April 2015. We employed the modified 15 item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) to assess the prevalence and severity of depression. We looked at the number of admission and length of admission during the last 12 months and its relation with depression. The prevalence of depression among was 63%. 22.6% had mild depression, 35.3% had moderate depression and 4.9% had severe depression. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between number of admission/year (p value = 0.001 with r value = 0.75), and positive correlation between days of admission and the prevalence of depression (P value = 0.001 with r value = 0.45) among geriatrics. Patients who admitted to the cardiac care unit (CCU) were more likely to have depression than those who were admitted to other cardiac units, Chi-Square test, (p value = 0.001 with df = 3). Depression was prevalent among hospitalized geriatric cardiac patients. It was associated with more frequent admissions and increased length of stays and hence increased utilization of health resources.