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Depression

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Learning Geriatric Medicine

Part of the book series: Practical Issues in Geriatrics ((PIG))

Abstract

Depression is the most frequent psychiatric disorder in old populations. Depression is a clinical syndrome that needs specific skills. Therefore, depression in older patients is often underdiagnosed because of misperceptions and atypical presentations. Although curable, depression is frequently undertreated. Depression leads to bad geriatric outcomes: frailty, disability, cognitive impairment, functional decline, mortality, morbidity, and increase of health costs. Above all, depression is the main risk factor of suicide in older persons.

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  • Further reading can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61997-2_15.

  • Further reading can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61997-2_15.

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Correspondence to Sylvie Bonin-Guillaume .

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Bonin-Guillaume, S., Benoit, M. (2018). Depression. In: Roller-Wirnsberger, R., Singler, K., Polidori, M. (eds) Learning Geriatric Medicine. Practical Issues in Geriatrics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61997-2_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61997-2_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-61996-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-61997-2

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