Depressive Symptoms in Elderly Chinese Primary Care Patients: Prevalence and Sociodemographic and Clinical Correlates.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms (depression thereafter) and to identify the sociodemographic and clinical correlates of depression in a sample of elderly patients treated in the primary care setting in Wuhan, China.

Background: Primary care is an opportune setting for the management of late-life depression in China, but there have been no representative studies on the clinical epidemiology of depression in elderly Chinese primary care patients.

Methods: In total, 752 elderly patients (≥ 65 years) were consecutively recruited from 13 primary care centers in Wuhan, China, and interviewed with a standardized questionnaire.