Psychiatric morbidity and perceived social support among elderly people living separately from their adult children in the community- a cross-sectional comparative study

A community-based cross-sectional comparative study was carried out to assess and compare the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity and level of perceived social support between two groups of elderly people: 50 elderly people living with their adult children or family members and 50 elderly people living separately in the community. Elderly people aged 60 years and above, fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria were screened with GHQ-12 (scored >3). Then all the screened respondents were interviewed using HAM-D, HAM-A, HMSE, and MSPSS. The mean age of the respondents in both studygroups was approximately 67years and the majority of them belong to age group 60-75 years. Total 18(36%) respondents in group-1 and 28 (56%) respondents in group-2 were found with psychiatric distress in screening. Elderly people living separately were found with two times higher risk of psychiatric distress (OR=2.3, 95% CI=1.01-5.05, p<0.05), depression (OR=2.3, 95% CI=1.02-5.19, p<0.05) and anxiety (OR=2.4, 95% CI=1.05-5.63, p<0.05) compared to elderly people living with their adult children and family members. Elderly people living with their adult children and family were found with a higher degree of perceived social support compared to elderly living separately. Perceived social support was found negatively correlated with depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairment. The present study shows that risk of psychiatric distress, depression and anxiety disorders are significantly higher in elderly people living separately from their adult children in the community. Improving social support among elderly people especially from their adult children can decrease the risk of psychiatric disorders among them.

Keywords: Aging, Depression, Anxiety, Cognitive impairment, Psychiatric distress