EVALUATION OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC- RELATED DEPRESSION IN GERIATRIC PATIENTS AT PRH, LONI: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Question:Has COVID-19 Pandemic affected the psychological health of the elderly patients at PRH, Loni? Design: Descriptive Participants: 300 Intervention: Non Interventional Outcome measures: Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS- 15) Score Results: The average of males having significant depression determined, using Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) was 3.56 whereas for females, it was 3.48. The difference in scoring depression between males and females was 1% percentage wise. Conclusion: On an average 41.8% of geriatric patients at PRH, Loni suffered from depression according to GDS- 15 score grading, during the time span of 3 months i.e. from January 2021 to March, 2021. Both inpatients as well as outpatients visiting PRH, Loni were included in the study with equal number of participation of males and females. This study concluded that males suffered from depression slightly higher than females. From the three categories of depression, mild depression had the highest rating than moderate and severe types of depression which was higher in females than in males. Broadly speaking, mild depression was the highest amongst older adults aged between 60 to 80, out of which females were moreover affected than males with a difference of 2.1%. Moderate depression amongst males was 4.6% and in females was comparatively higher with the percentage of 5.3%. The gender difference in the scoring was 2.1%. The percentage of Severe depression was 0.6% in males and was nil in females despite having a slightly higher rate of depression, in general at PRH, Loni.