Risk Factors for Depression Among the Elderly in Medan City

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-962-9_35How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Depression; Elderly; Risk Factors; Mental Health

Abstract

Depression represents a serious mental health disorder among elderly individuals that is frequently underrecognized, with significant prevalence rates documented in Indonesia. In Medan City, demographic transitions and urbanization challenges potentially increase the risk of depression within the elderly population. However, comprehensive research examining specific risk factors in this region remains limited. Therefore, this study aims to identify and analyze factors contributing to depression among elderly individuals in Medan City. This study employed a quantitative design with a cross-sectional approach. The sample comprised 384 elderly participants (aged ≥ 60 years) selected through stratified random sampling from 41 community health centers (Puskesmas) within the operational area of the Medan City Health Department. Data were collected using structured questionnaires to assess chronic disease history, social support, cognitive function, loneliness levels, healthcare access, and depression using the Geriatric Depression Scale ( G D S - 15 ) instrument. Statistical analysis of inter-variable relationships was conducted using chi-square tests. The findings demonstrated statistically significant associations between all five independent variables and depression levels among elderly participants. These factors included chronic disease history ( p = 0.038 ) , social support ( p = 0.000 ) , cognitive function ( p = 0.000 ) , loneliness ( p = 0.000 ) , and healthcare access ( p = 0.001 ) . Social support and loneliness exhibited the strongest associations; no elderly participants with low social support maintained normal mental health status, and loneliness levels demonstrated a very strong correlation with depression severity. The study concludes that chronic disease history, social support, cognitive function, loneliness, and healthcare accessibility constitute significant risk factors that contribute to depression occurrence within the elderly population of Medan City.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Destanti Pebrina Ginting
AU  - Maya Sari Mutia
AU  - Putranto Manalu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/01/02
TI  - Risk Factors for Depression Among the Elderly in Medan City
BT  - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Lifestyle Diseases and Natural Medicine (ICOLIFEMED 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 363
EP  - 378
SN  - 2468-5739
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-962-9_35
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-962-9_35
ID  - Ginting2026
ER  -