Clinical effectiveness of integrating depression care management into medicare home health: the Depression CAREPATH Randomized trial.

Importance: Among older home health care patients, depression is highly prevalent, is often inadequately treated, and contributes to hospitalization and other poor outcomes. Feasible and effective interventions are needed to reduce this burden of depression.

Objective: To determine whether, among older Medicare Home Health recipients who screen positive for depression, patients of nurses receiving randomization to an intervention have greater improvement in depressive symptoms during 1 year than patients receiving enhanced usual care.

Racial and ethnic variation in home healthcare nurse depression assessment of older minority patients.

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the racial/ethnic effect of depression symptom recognition by home healthcare nurses.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of administrative data from a large urban home healthcare agency. Patients' age were 65 years and older with a valid depression screen, identified as Caucasian, African American, or Hispanic and admitted to homecare in 2010 (N = 3711).

Depression treatment disparities among older minority home healthcare patients.

Objective: Determine the racial/ethnic effect on depression treatment among home healthcare patients.

Design: Cross-sectional analyses of administrative data.

Setting: A large home healthcare agency in Bronx, NY.

Healthcare use among older primary care patients with minor depression.

Objective: To determine the rate of healthcare utilization for older primary care patients by depression status.

Design: Cross-sectional data analysis.

Setting: Primary care practices, western New York state.

The effect of telephone-facilitated depression care on older, medically ill patients.

The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a telephone-facilitated depression care protocol in older, medically ill adults compared to routine care. A 12-week double blind randomized controlled trial was conducted in recently discharged primary care patients (N = 124). Depression was assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9.

Late-life depression in older African Americans: a comprehensive review of epidemiological and clinical data.

Objective: The population of older African Americans is expected to triple by 2050, highlighting the public health importance of understanding their mental health needs. Despite evidence of the negative impact of late-life depression, less is known of how this disorder affects the lives of older African Americans. Lack of studies focusing on how depression presents in older African Americans and their subsequent treatment needs lead to a gap in epidemiologic and clinical knowledge for this population.

Racial differences in antidepressant use among older home health care patients.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the association of race (black and white) with depression diagnosis and antidepressant use among older home health care patients.

Methods: Cross-sectional data were obtained from the 2007 National Home and Hospice Care Survey of patients 65 years and older (N=3,157). Data were analyzed by race, antidepressant use, and charted depression diagnosis.