Research report The community prevalence of depression in older Australians Jane Pirkis a, ⁎ , Jon Pfaff b , Michelle Williamson a , Orla Tyson b , Nigel Stocks c , Robert Goldney d , Brian Draper e , John Snowdon f , Nicola Lautenschlager b,g , Osvaldo P. Almeida b a Centre for Health Policy, Programs and Economics, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia b Western Australian Centre for Health and Ageing & School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia c Discipline of General Practice, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia d Discipline of Psychiatry, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia e Academic Department for Old Age Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia f Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia g Academic Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age, St Vincent's Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia Received 18 April 2008; received in revised form 22 August 2008; accepted 22 August 2008 Available online 24 September 2008 Abstract Objective: To estimate the prevalence of depression among older adults in Australia. Method: All general practitioners in Australia's five most populous states who satisfied certain eligibility criteria (e.g., sufficient weekly working hours, sufficient numbers of elderly patients) were invited to participate. Those who consented were asked to identify all of their patients aged 60+ and invite them (either directly or via the study team) to complete a questionnaire. The questionnaire identified those who had experienced ‘clinically significant depression’ and those who had experienced a ‘major depressive episode’ in the past two weeks, via the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Consenting patients completed the questionnaire and returned it to the study team in a reply-paid envelope. Results: In total, 22,251 patients returned questionnaires. Overall, the age-adjusted rate of clinically significant depression was 8.2% (95%CI = 7.8%–8.6%), with the age-adjusted rates for males being 8.6% (95%CI = 7.9%–9.2%) and for females being 7.9% (95%CI = 7.4%–8.4%). The overall, male and female age-adjusted rates for a major depressive episode were 1.8% (95%CI = 1.6%– 2.0%), 1.9% (95%CI = 1.6%–2.2%) and 1.7% (95%CI = 1.5%–2.0%), respectively. Discussion: Our study suggests that depression among older people is a major public health problem. The above estimates provide guidance for efficient planning of services, and establish a baseline against which preventive and treatment interventions can be assessed. Armed with this information, we can progress efforts at reducing this major health problem and its consequences. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Depression; Prevalence; Elderly 1. Introduction Depression among older people is a significant public health issue. The impact of depression on older Journal of Affective Disorders 115 (2009) 54 – 61 www.elsevier.com/locate/jad ⁎ Corresponding author. Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Health Policy, Programs and Economics, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. Tel.: +61 3 8344 0647; fax: +61 3 9348 1174. E-mail address: j.pirkis@unimelb.edu.au (J. Pirkis). 0165-0327/$ - see front matter © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2008.08.014