Gender-specific factors associated with risk of depression among Lebanese older adults

Delirium incidence, predictors and outcomes in the intensive care unit: A prospective cohort study

AIM

The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence, predictors, and outcomes of delirium in intensive care units.

BACKGROUND

Delirium is a common complication in intensive care units. In developing countries, it can be misdiagnosed or unrecognised.

DESIGN

Prospective cohort study reported according to the strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology criteria.

METHODS

We included patients who were conscious, >18 years old, and admitted to the intensive care units for at least 8 h between December 2019 and February 2020. Patients with a Richmond score of -4 or -5, mental disability, receptive aphasia and/or visual or auditory impairment were excluded from the study. Delirium was assessed using the Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU), whereas the functional outcome was assessed by the Katz Activity of Daily Living Index.

RESULTS

This study included 111 patients with a delirium incidence of 31.5%. The severity of illness was the only significant predictor of delirium. Patients with delirium had longer intensive care unit and in-hospital stays in contrast to those without delirium. Delirium was associated with in-hospital and 4-month mortality but not the activities of daily living.

CONCLUSIONS

Delirium is associated with increased length of stay and mortality. Further investigation to determine whether delirium management can improve outcomes is warranted.

A perspective on the sense of loneliness and its determinants in Iranian older people

BACKGROUND

The sense of loneliness is one of the common problems of older people and their quality of life, and is affected by many factors such as personal resources, gender, health condition, and age. This study investigates the determinants of the sense of loneliness between older men and women in Birjand.

METHODS

This study was a part of the community-based prospective cohort study of the Birjand Longitudinal Aging Study (BLAS). Individuals over 60 years of age and their families (selected by random cluster sampling) were assessed through structured interviews with questionnaires such as Patient Health Questionnaire, Short-Form-12, Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam Physical Activity Questionnaire, loneliness, and social support questions.

RESULTS

The mean age of the participants in the study was 68.59 ± 6.72, and 53.2% were women. Based on the findings of pathway analysis, the most critical determinants of loneliness in older men and women were the number of children (total effect = -0.112, P = 0.006) and mood, respectively (total effect = 0.142, P < 0.001). According to results, older people with fewer children feel lonelier.

CONCLUSION

Compared with men, emotional loneliness is more common in older women. Older women, who lost their husbands, suffer from loneliness, mental health disorders, and low quality of life.

Community Environment Perception on Depression: The Mediating Role of Subjective Social Class

Depression has become a major social issue of global concern, which has seriously threatened the quality of an individual’s life. Although the relationship between community environment and depression has aroused heated debate, the empirical research on the relationship between community environment perception and public depression is still relatively insufficient. Data for this study are from China Family Panel Studies in 2016, which were conducted by the institute of Social Science Survey, Peking University. This paper has tested group differences in the influence of community environment on public depression, as well as the mediating role of subjective social class between community environment perception and depression, so as to further explore the social psychological effect of community environment. The empirical study found that there are group differences in the impacts of community environment perception on depression. Specifically, men, rural residents, and people aged 60 and under are more likely to be depressed which were affected by the perception of community environment. Furthermore, we have found that the subjective social class can partly mediate community environment perception and depression. That is to say, the perception of community environment can induce depression by influencing the individual’s subjective social class. Among them, community living environment and community public facilities have the greatest impact, community emotional attachment and community security situation have the second impact, and neighborhood mutual aid and neighborhood relationship have the least impact. In other words, the community environment is deeply endowed with a social psychological effect. To ameliorate the public’s depression, it is necessary to consider the construction of community physical environment and the cultivation of harmonious community culture as powerful measures not to be ignored. In short, the important role of community environmental intervention in alleviating the public’s depression caused by social class cognition deserves attention.