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Increased Mortality Rates in Late-life Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Elaine Murphy ,
Rae Smith ,
James Lindesay  and
Jim Slattery
Elaine Murphy*
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, UMDS Guy's Campus
Rae Smith
Affiliation:
Goodmayes Hospital, Ilford
James Lindesay
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, UMDS Guy's Campus
Jim Slattery
Affiliation:
Southampton University
*
∗York Clinic, Guy's Hospital, London SEI 9RT
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Abstract

Physical illness at referral and subsequent mortality were studied in a group of elderly patients with depression, and compared with age/sex-matched controls. The depressed group was significantly less well at first interview, and had a significantly higher 4–year mortality. When the effect of physical illness was controlled, the depressed patients (particularly the men) still had a significantly higher 4–year mortality, suggesting that the greater mortality in the depressed group was not due to differences in physical health alone.

Type
Annotation
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 152 , Issue 3 , March 1988 , pp. 347 - 353
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

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