Prevalence of depressive and other symptoms in elderly Finnish men

The prevalence of depressive and other symptoms were studied in Finnish men aged 65 to 84 years and living either in eastern (n = 310) or in southwestern (n = 378) Finland. The Zung self-rating depression scale showed depressed affect, fatigue and suicidal thoughts to be more common in the east, but indecisiveness to be more prevalent in the south-west. The mean of the sum scores in the Zung scale was 37.8 (+/- 8.4) for the eastern and 37.2 (+/- 8.3) for the south-western population, and no differences were found between the areas in this respect. However, many of the other symptoms, including somatic and psychosomatic (such as pains, dyspnea, nausea, impaired memory, apathy, itching skin and sight disturbances) were more common among men living in eastern Finland. The former findings support the idea that there are differences in the affects between men living in the east and men living in the south-west, but, as a whole, depressive symptoms are equally prevalent in both elderly male populations. The latter finding may reflect the well-known differences in the prevalences of somatic diseases between these two areas.