Objective: To know the prevalence and risk factors for depression in demented patients.
Patients and methods: From a field epidemiological study, in a double phase, door to door, in which 1,460 subjects older than 69 from a rural area participated, three groups were established: group A made up of 200 dementia diagnosed subjects; group B made up of 119 subjects without dementia but with punctuation on the screening instrument (MEC) under the cut off point; the 283 subjects on the group C were not catalogued as demented, and the MEC punctuation was over the cut off point. Both the diagnoses of dementia and depression were made in basis of CAMDEX criteria.
Results: The frequency of depression in groups A, B and C was 26.5%, 11.76% and 4.94%, respectively. The dementia is a risk factor for depression (OR: 4.81; CI: 2.93-7.91). There are no differences in the frequency of depression according to dementia subtypes. Sex, age, marital status and severity of dementia do not have an influence on the prevalence of depression. The presence of psychiatric history is a risk factor for depression on groups A and B, but not for C.
Conclusion: Depressions are more common on subjects with cognitive impairment.