Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Epidemiology and the Scale of the Problem

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Primary Care Mental Health in Older People

  • 1056 Accesses

Abstract

Population ageing is taking place in nearly all parts of the world. Ageing results from decreasing mortality and declining fertility. Older adults are increasingly playing important roles in society through volunteer work, caring for their families and paid workforce. However, not all older adults enjoy good health. The burden of non-communicable diseases is increasing, and this has now become a major public health issue. Many older adults are living with ill health including poor mental health. Factors that influence older adults’ mental and emotional wellbeing include individual characteristics or attributes, socioeconomic circumstances and the broader environment in which they live. With the increasing population of older adults, it is vital that services plan adequately to provide healthcare and wellbeing care to meet the growing demand. This is especially relevant to primary healthcare providers where older adults often seek help in the first instance. Loneliness and social exclusion are important risk factors for poor mental health among older adults. Efforts to improve mental wellbeing of older adults should include tackling loneliness. Collaborative care, bringing together health and social services, is a good way of managing mental health problems in older adults.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. World Health Organization. Definition of an older or elderly person: Proposed Working Definition of an Older Person in Africa for the MDS Project. http://www.who.int/healthinfo/survey/ageingdefnolder/en/. Accessed 15 Dec 2015.

  2. United Nations. World population ageing 2013. http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/WorldPopulationAgeing2013.pdf. Accessed 15 Dec 2015.

  3. United Nations. World population ageing 1950–2015: Demographic profile of the older population. http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldageing19502050/pdf/90chapteriv.pdf. Accessed 15 Dec 2015.

  4. World Health Organisation. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs ǀ Population Division. World population aging. http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/WorldPopulationAgeing2013.pdf. Accessed 29 Feb 2016.

  5. World Health Organisation. Mental health and older adults, Fact sheet N°381, 2015. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs381/en/. Accessed 17 Dec 2015.

  6. World Health Organisation. Risks to mental health: an overview of vulnerabilities and risk factors. http://www.who.int/mental_health/mhgap/risks_to_mental_health_EN_27_08_12.pdf. Accessed 1 Feb 2016.

  7. Egede LE, Ellis C. Diabetes and depression: global perspectives. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2010;87(3):302–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Moussavi S, et al. Depression, chronic diseases, and decrements in health: results from the World Health Surveys. Lancet. 2007;370(9590):851–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Centre for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance abuse among older adults. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 26. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64422/. Accessed 15 Dec 2015.

  10. Royal College of Psychiatrists. Alcohol and older people. http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/problemsdisorders/alcoholandolderpeople.aspx. Accessed 29 Feb 2016.

  11. Volkert J, Schulza H, Härtera M, et al. The prevalence of mental disorders in older people in Western countries—a meta-analysis. Ageing Res Rev. 2013;12:339–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Challis D, Tucker S, Wilberforce M, et al. National trends and local delivery in old age mental health services: towards an evidence base. A mixed-methodology study of the balance of care approach, community mental health teams and specialist mental health outreach to care homes. Program Grants Appl Res. 2014;2(4):1–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. WHO. Mental health and older adults. 2015. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs381/en/. Accessed 4 Jan 2016.

  14. World Health Organisation. Mental health and older adults, Fact sheet N°381, 2015. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs381/en/. Accessed 4 Jan 2016.

  15. Bartels SJ. Caring for the Whole Person: integrated health care for older adults with severe mental illness and medical comorbidity. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2004;52:S249–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Kessler RC, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Alonso J, Chatterji S, Lee S, Ormel J, Üstün TB, Wang PS. The global burden of mental disorders: an update from the WHO World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys. Epidemiol Psichiatr Soc. 2009;18(1):23–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Baxter AJ, Patton G, Scott KM, Degenhardt L, Whiteford HA. Global epidemiology of mental disorders: what are we missing? PLoS One. 2013;8(6):e65514. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065514.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Common mental health disorders, Guidance and guidelines. NICE. 2011. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg123. Accessed 25 Jan 2016.

  19. Goldberg SE, Whittamore KH, Harwood RH, et al. The prevalence of mental health problems among older adults admitted as an emergency to a general hospital. Age Ageing. 2012;41:80–6. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afr106.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Luppa M, Sikorski C, Luck T, et al. Age- and gender-specific prevalence of depression in latest-life—systematic review and meta-analysis. J Affect Disord. 2012;136:212–21.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Prince M, Brycea R, Albanese E, et al. The global prevalence of dementia: a systematic review and meta analysis. Alzheimers Dement. 2013;9:63–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Whiteford HA, Degenhardt L, Rehm J, et al. Global burden of disease attributable to mental and substance use disorders: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet. 2013;382(9904):1575–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. World Health Organisation. The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders. Geneva: WHO; 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  24. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Serious mental illness (SMI) among U.S. adults. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/serious-mental-illness-smi-among-us-adults.shtml. Accessed 29 Jan 2016.

  25. Ferri PC, Prince M, Brayne C, et al. Global prevalence of dementia: a Delphi consensus study. Lancet. 2005;366(9503):2112–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Rizzi L, Rosset I, Roriz-Cruz M. Global epidemiology of dementia: Alzheimer’s and vascular type. BioMed Res Int. 2014. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2014/908915/. Accessed 5 Jan 2016.

  27. Kalaria RN, Maestre GE, Arizaga R, et al. Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia in developing countries: prevalence, management and risk factors. Lancet Neurol. 2008;7(9):812–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. George-Carey R. An estimate of the prevalence of dementia in Africa: a systematic analysis. J Glob Health. 2012;2(2):020401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Prince M, Bryce R, Albanese E, Wimo A, Ribeiro W, Ferri CP. The global prevalence of dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Alzheimers Dement. 2013;9:63–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Le Couteur DG, Doust J, Creasey H, Brayne C. Political drive to screen for pre-dementia: not evidence based and ignores the harms of diagnosis. BMJ. 2013;347:f5125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Zhang Y, Xu Y, Nie H, et al. Prevalence of dementia and major dementia subtypes in the Chinese populations: a meta-analysis of dementia prevalence surveys, 1980–2010. J Clin Neurosci. 2012;19(10):1333–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Alzheimer’s Research UK. 10 things you need to know about prevalence. 2015. http://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/about-dementia/facts-stats/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-prevalence/. Accessed 22 Jan 2016.

  33. Langa M. Is the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia declining? Alzheimers Res Ther. 2015;7(1):34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Harwood DM, Hawton K, Hope T, Harriss L, Jacoby R. Life problems and physical illness as risk factors for suicide in older people: a descriptive and case-control study. Psychol Med. 2006;36(9):1265–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. World Health Organisation. First WHO report on suicide prevention. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/suicide-prevention-report/en/. Accessed 31 Jan 2016.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Public Health Department, London Borough of Waltham Forest, London, UK

    Yaccub Enum, Karen Bernard & Monica Hill

  2. Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Wolfgang Spiegel

  3. College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, University of West London, London, UK

    Taofik Olajobi

Authors
  1. Yaccub Enum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wolfgang Spiegel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Karen Bernard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Monica Hill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Taofik Olajobi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Unité de Psychiatrie et de Psychothérapie, Centre Les Toises, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Carlos Augusto de Mendonça Lima

  2. Mental Health and Population Health, NOVA University Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Gabriel Ivbijaro

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Enum, Y., Spiegel, W., Bernard, K., Hill, M., Olajobi, T. (2019). Epidemiology and the Scale of the Problem. In: de Mendonça Lima, C., Ivbijaro, G. (eds) Primary Care Mental Health in Older People. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10814-4_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10814-4_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-10812-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-10814-4

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation