Prognosis of depression in the elderly

Abstract

Depressive illness in the elderly is often characterized by frequent and prolonged relapses and is associated with a significantly greater than expected 5-year mortality. A number of factors can influence prognosis, including severity and duration of the depressive illness, biological ageing factors in the brain, and possibly associated physical illness and the age of onset of their first depressive illness. Vigorous treatment of the depression, regular review, prophylactic medication and prompt vigorous treatment of relapses are all important. Future studies should use a wide range of prognostic indices and sophisticated research design and statistical methods