Abstract
To clarify the prevalence of depression in a rural community in Japan and to evaluate the social and familial risk factors for depression, with the goal of suicide prevention, a questionnaire survey was conducted on a total of 2,763 elderly persons. The determined prevalence of depressive symptoms (Zung’s self-rated depression scale score of 50 points or more) was 10.4%. Logistic regression analysis showed associations between depressive symptoms and age, absence of a friendly companion, irritation with one’s family, frequent loneliness, the opinion that stress has a large impact on one’s life, suicide ideation, and poor subjective physical and mental health.
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Acknowledgment
This work was supported by Grand-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 13670352) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.
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Y. Kaneko, Y. Motohashi and H. Sasaki are affiliated with the Department of Public Health, Akita, Japan.
M. Yamaji is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health and Medical Care, Saitama, Japan.
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Kaneko, Y., Motohashi, Y., Sasaki, H. et al. Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms and Related Risk Factors for Depressive Symptoms among Elderly Persons Living in a Rural Japanese Community: a Cross-Sectional Study. Community Ment Health J 43, 583–590 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-007-9096-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-007-9096-5