Depressive symptoms and associated factors in residents living in long-term care facilities from the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To identify the presence of depressive symptoms and its association with self-rated health among older adults living in Long-term Care Facilities. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study in which institutionalized older adults were screened by using the Mental State Mini Exam. Standard questionnaires were used to collect the following data: 1) sociodemographic variables, 2) depressive symptoms, and 3) self-rated health. The descriptive statistical analysis by measures of central tendency and dispersion was performed to characterize the sample. The multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed to associate the variables. In all tests, the alpha value of 0.05 was considered. RESULTS: A total of 127 older adults living in 47 long-term care facilities were evaluated. Among those who presented depressive symptoms, 32.3% were classified as having mild symptoms and 13.4% had severe symptoms. Regarding self-rated health, 46.5% considered it poor/very poor. In the analysis of the association between mild and severe depressive symptoms and self-rated health, statistical significance (p = 0.004 and p = 0.001, respectively) was found. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that more attention should be directed to institutionalized older adults who have symptoms of depression and to their impacts on the negative self-rated health.