Depressive symptoms among hospitalized elderly people increase the chance of mortality after hospital discharge

Abstract

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms in a sample of hospitalized elderly people, as well as their relationship with the chance of a death event 90 and 180 days after hospital discharge. This is a cross-sectional study, carried out with 213 elderly people admitted to a general-secondary hospital in the south of the city of São Paulo, during the years 2016-2017. Participants were asked to answer questionnaires about personal data, depressive symptoms and confounding variables, and were contacted again at 90 and 180 days after discharge. A logistic regression model was individually adjusted for health indicators; the
null hypothesis was refuted when p<0.05. In this sense, a total of 42.5% of hospitalized elderly people had depressive symptoms. At 90 days, 26% of them reported worsening health status, 20.5% were readmitted and 18.7% progressed to death; those prevalences increased at 180 days. The presence of depressive symptoms increased the chance of a mortality event 180 days after hospital discharge. Thus, we conclude that the prevalence of depressive symptoms in this sample was higher than that found in previous
studies. It is noteworthy that these symptoms negatively affect the chance of mortality after hospital discharge, so we suggest the
early identification and treatment of these symptoms during the hospitalization of patients.