RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To see whether elderly medical in-patients screening positive for depression on the Geriatric Depression Score show any change on discharge home and whether their scores predict this. DESIGN: A prospective study. SETTING: A large outer London district general hospital with acute wards for all medical admissions of people aged over 75 years. PARTICIPANTS: We studied 179 consecutive patients admitted to the acute wards with an abbreviated mental test score of > or = 7 who were resident within the London borough of Waltham Forest. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Geriatric Depression Scores in hospital and at home after discharge. Account was taken of subsequent psychiatric treatment. RESULTS: 55 inpatients screened positive for depression (15x point Geriatric Depression Score of 5 or more). Repeat screening of these patients, after discharge, resulted in 24 scoring < 5 and only 19 scoring > or = 5. Three patients out of the 55 were admitted into psychiatric care with depression prior to follow-up screening. The 15 question Geriatric Depression Score was highly sensitive and the 4 question Geriatric Depression Score highly specific in predicting for depression after discharge. CONCLUSION: Many patients screen positive for depression on acute elderly medical admission wards and nearly half improve spontaneously upon returning home.