Prevalence and correlates of major depressive disorder among a national sample of middle-aged and older adults in India

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the prevalence and correlates of major depressive disorder (MDD) among middle-age and older adults in India.

Methods: The cross-sectional sample consisted of 72,262 persons (45 years and older) from the 2017 to 2018 Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) Wave 1. MDD is defined using DSM-5 criteria and measured with the CIDI-SF. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the associations with MDD.

Results: The prevalence of past 12-month MDD was 7.6%, 8.1% among women and 7.0% among men, and 8.2% in persons 60 years and older. In the final adjusted model, food insecurity, having 3–6 discrimination experiences, ill-treatment, victim of violent crime, disaster exposure, unsafe home/neighbourhood, poor childhood health, hypertension, stroke, tobacco use, and physical pain were positively associated with MDD. Being male, married, high socioeconomic status, living in urban areas, high spirituality/religiosity, health insurance and medium social network were negatively associated with MDD.

Conclusion: Almost one in ten middle-aged and older adults in India had MDD and several associated factors were identified.

Keywords:

• Major depressive disorder
• middle-aged
• older adults
• India

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Ethics Committee and written informed consent was obtained from participants.

Authors’ contributions

All authors fulfil the criteria for authorship. SP and KP conceived and designed the research, performed statistical analysis, drafted the manuscript, and made critical revisions of the manuscript for key intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript and have agreed to the authorship and order of authorship for this manuscript.

Availability of data and materials

The data are available at the Gateway to Global Aging Data (www.g2aging.org).

Additional information

Funding

The Longitudinal Aging Study in India Project is funded by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG042778, R01 AG030153), and United Nations Population Fund, India.