Author(s)

Yanqiu Wang

Corresponding Author

Yanqiu Wang

ABSTRACT

The incidence of depression in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients is not low and the depression can affect the physical health and quality of life for PD patients. Researchers had done a lot of studies on how to treat and interevent the depression of PD patients. But few researchers focus on the etiology of the depression of PD. In this study, we explored the influence factor of depression in elderly PD patients among demographic information, family function, social support, and motor and non-motor symptoms. 103 PD patients aging over 60 were recruited and invited to complete a questionnaire, which includes Demographic Information Questionnaire, Geriatric Depression Scale-15, Family APGAR index, Social Support Rating Scale and Barthel Index for Activities of Daily Living. The prevalence of depression among elder PD patients is 76.70％. The number of the comorbidities can increase the possibility of depression. Family function and social support also serve as important factors to depression in PD patients. The number of comorbidities, family function and social support are independent factors to the mental health of aging PD patients. Comorbidities, family function and social support greatly affects the prevalence of depression in PD patients. Medical staff should focus on more on patients with those features and take precautions against possible depression symptoms.

KEYWORDS

Parkinson’s disease, Depression, Elderly, Family function, Social support