Screening for depression in hospitalised elderly medical patients

Objective: The aim of this study was to screen a group of medically ill elderly hospitalised patients for depression and to facilitate this using a new screening questionnaire called the Evans Liverpool Depression Rating Scale (ELDRS), Method: The questionnaire was administered by a geriatric registrar to a consecutive series of 37 acutely ill elderly medical inpatients admitted to an acute hospital ward. They were subsequently interviewed by a member of the psychiatry of old age team, Results: Seven of the 37 acutely ill elderly patients admitted to hospital were found to be suffering from a major depressive illness according to DSMIIIR criteria, Of the patients screened, two were already on antidepressant medication, Five of the depressed patients were identified by using the ELDRS. All of the depressed group were judged to require antidepressant medication and two were referred to a psychiatry of old age day hospital, Conclusions: Our results suggest that there is a raised prevalence of depressive illness in elderly acutely ill medical patients which remains undetected. Use of a screening questionnaire such as the ELDRS would increase the likelihood of its identification in this group.