Some 15 percent of Americans 65 and older experience clinically significant depression. According to the Alliance for Aging Research, this condition can exacerbate the disabling effects of other diseases. For example, recent research found that women who are depressed when hospitalized for a hip fracture are less likely to be ambulatory and independent a year later than patients who are not depressed. Other studies have shown that depression can increase the disability associated with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, stroke, arthritis, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other diseases.
Depression is also a key factor in suicides.
According to the American Association of Suicidology, people 65 and older account for 20 percent of all suicides, although they make up only 13 percent of the population, and white males over the age of 85 have the highest suicide rate of all Americans. Many people think that depression is a normal part of aging. Depression is an illness and needs to be properly diagnosed and treated. It is a known fact that when you treat the depression, symptoms of other medical illnesses improve. A large part of the solution to this problem is treatment with innovative medicines, according to Soo Borson, MD, director of Geriatric Psychiatry Services at the University of Washington Medical Center.