Geriatric Syndrome May Affect QOL, Compliance

According to a Cochrane Collaboration review that has not yet been published, effective screening for depression—even mild depression—can be done with two questions: “Have you been bothered in the past month by low interest in pleasure or doing things?” and “Have you been feeling down, depressed, or hopeless in the past month?”

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can be effective. A recent study of sertraline found that an 8-week course of treatment produced good improvement in the elderly, Dr. Hall noted. But patients not assigned to drug therapy also showed a fairly pronounced improvement—a common finding in studies of depression in the elderly.