Up to 30% of nursing home residents have mild or severe depression. While depressive disorders in old age can be improved and even cured with appropriate therapy, they often go unnoticed by nursing home residents and go untreated. Comparison of sleep disorders among nursing home residents in high and low altitude areas. Participants were recruited from three public nursing homes in Xi'ning, a city in Qinghai province with an average altitude of 2300 m (high-altitude area), and a large-scale nursing home in Guangzhou, a city in Guangdong province, with an average altitude of 10 m (low-altitude area).
Second, since only one public nursing home at low altitude (Guangzhou) and three public nursing homes in high-altitude regions (Qinghai) were included, the findings could not be generalized to those living in other settings. The search equation found 536 and 1447 studies that explored depression and dementia, respectively, and their related health complications in long-term care facilities or nursing homes. In conclusion, depression was common among nursing home residents, especially those living in high-altitude regions. Of a total of 657 nursing home residents invited to participate in the study, 632 (425 in low-altitude regions and 207 in high-altitude regions) met the study criteria and completed evaluations during the study period, yielding a participation rate of 96.2%.
Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders among older adults, and depressed nursing home residents are at a particularly high risk of diminishing quality of life. When nursing home residents feel that they have control over their activities, this has a positive influence on their health and well-being. The complex support and care requirements of depressed older adults in nursing homes demand the development and implementation of innovative clinical and organizational models that can ensure the early identification of the disorder and high-quality multidisciplinary services to treat it. Depression is a widespread psychiatric disorder in nursing homes; it has a negative impact on quality of life and affects more than a fifth of nursing home residents.
All staff members, especially nurses and nursing assistants, need education and training about depression and how to recognize it.
