Prevalence of depression and its association with nutritional status among free-living older adults of Burdwan, (West Bengal)

There is a notable increase in the number of older adults and the emergence of various physical and mental disorders among them, of which depression seems to be the commonest of all. Depression and malnutrition among older adults appear to be strongly associated. Therefore association between depression and nutritional status of 82 older adults (31 male; 51 female) of Burdwan Town, West Bengal was studied. The level of depression was assessed by Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS- 30) and nutritional status was assessed by Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). According to GDS-30,74.2 per cent and 25.8per cent male participants were found to be normal and with mild depression, respectively. Whereas, 60.8per cent and 39.2per cent female participants were normal and with mild depression, respectively. No severe depression was found in either of these two groups. According to MNA, 54.8per cent male and 54.9per cent female participants had normal nutritional status while 45.2per cent male and 45. lper cent female participants were at risk of mal nutrition. No malnutrition was found among the individuals of the two groups. Significant (p< 0.05) negative correlation was found between MNA scores and GDS scores for both male and female participants.