Kiran Rabheru, MD, CCFP, FRCPC, Active Staff, Geriatrics Psychiatry,London Psychiatric Hospital, London, ON.
Depression is the most common psychiatric disease in the elderly, and is a problem of major public health importance; however, it is underrecognized and undertreated, particularly in primary care and long-term care settings.1 Major depression may affect up to 20% of hospitalized elderly while up to 30% of older persons in the community suffer from milder forms of depression. In many, the symptoms are persistent or recurrent, resulting in increased disability, worsening of symptoms caused by other medical illness, greater health care utilization, and higher mortality from suicide as well as other medical causes such as vascular diseases.
Antidepressant medication, although not adequate or sufficient on its own, is often an essential part of the treatment plan for an older person who suffers from a significant burden of depressive symptoms. A dysregulation of the central neurotransmitters, norepinephrine (NE), serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA), has been suggested to be part of the underlying mechanism in major depression.
In recent years, newer compounds have been introduced that have similar efficacy but far fewer side effects than do tricyclic antidepressants (TCA).
