BACKGROUND Many elderly persons in Nigeria are having mental health challenges and there is a lack of commensurate increase in services to attend to such. AIM To assess the prevalence, pattern and correlates of psychiatric morbidity among community dwelling elderly persons (≥ 60 years) in Abeokuta, Nigeria. METHODS 532 respondents were selected using a multistage, stratified cluster sampling method from the elderly population in Abeokuta. First, participants were administered the socio-demographic questionnaire, General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Those with a score of ≥ 3 in GHQ-12 were assessed with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI PLUS), while those with ≤ 16 in MMSE were assessed with the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) IV criteria for Dementia and the Petersen's criteria for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). RESULTS 36.3% of the respondents had a probable psychological disorder, while 25.4% had a probable cognitive impairment. 9.8% had a current definitive psychiatric disorder. The commonest disorders were major depressive disorder and dementia. The female gender, the oldest old (≥ 80 years), having a chronic medical illness and bereavement in the last 1 year were most significantly associated with having mental health problems. CONCLUSION A significant number of the elderly population in the studied community suffers from a psychiatric illness. It is hoped that studies as these will inform stakeholders on the need to pay closer attention to the mental health needs of the elderly, as their overall wellbeing plays a role in determining the overall health of the community.

中文翻译：

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尼日利亚阿贝奥库塔社区居民中老年人的精神病患病率和发病率。

背景技术尼日利亚的许多老年人面临精神健康挑战，并且缺乏相应的增加服务于此类活动的服务。目的评估尼日利亚阿贝库塔（Abeokuta）社区居住的老年人（≥60岁）中精神病发病率，患病率和相关性。方法采用多阶段分层整群抽样方法，从阿贝库塔的老年人口中选出532名受访者。首先，对参与者进行了社会人口统计学调查表，《一般健康状况调查表12》（GHQ-12）和《小精神状态检查》（MMSE）。迷你国际神经精神病学访谈（MINI PLUS）对GHQ-12中得分≥3的患者进行了评估，而MMSE≤16的患者则根据诊断统计手册（DSM）的痴呆症IV标准和彼得森轻度认知障碍（MCI）标准进行评估。结果36.3％的受访者可能患有心理疾病，而25.4％的受访者可能患有认知障碍。当前有9.8％的患者患有明确的精神疾病。最常见的疾病是重度抑郁症和痴呆症。女性，最老的年龄（≥80岁），在最近的1年中患有慢性疾病和丧亲与精神健康问题最为相关。结论研究社区中大量老年人患有精神疾病。