Citation

Hewitt JA. CME Journal Geriatric Medicine 2002; 4(1): 28-33.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Depression is a common illness afflicting elderly people living in the community. It is even more common amongst medical in-patients. The condition is easily missed, since it may often present in an atypical way. Failure to detect it may result in unnecessary investigations and a lengthy hospital stay. The condition may become chronic and lead to dependency, unnecessary suffering and an increased mortality rate. This article describes how depression may be diagnosed and treated.

Language: en

Keywords

aged; amitriptyline; antiarrhythmic agent; anxiety disorder; appetite disorder; beta adrenergic receptor blocking agent; body weight disorder; calcium channel blocking agent; carbamazepine; chronic disease; citalopram; clinical feature; clinical trial; clomipramine; community care; confusion; convulsion; cytotoxic agent; depression; Depression; diagnostic accuracy; diaphoresis; differential diagnosis; dosulepin; drug contraindication; drug cost; drug efficacy; Elderly; electroconvulsive therapy; fluoxetine; gastrointestinal disease; geriatric disorder; geriatric patient; headache; hospitalization; human; hyponatremia; imipramine; interview; law; lofepramine; mental health care; meta analysis; mirtazapine; moclobemide; monoamine oxidase inhibitor; mortality; myoclonus; neuroleptic agent; noradrenalin uptake inhibitor; paroxetine; patient referral; phenelzine; phenytoin; prevalence; prognosis; rating scale; reboxetine; restlessness; review; screening; sedation; seizure; serotonin syndrome; serotonin uptake inhibitor; sertraline; sexual dysfunction; shivering; side effect; suicide; systolic hypertension; tremor; tricyclic antidepressant agent; venlafaxine; warfarin