مرض اكتئاب المسنين في مدينة الرياض : دراسة في الجغرافيا الطبية

الملخص EN

The current Study aimed at identifying the geographical distribution of the elderly’s de- pression in Riyadh city and their spatial variation among the neighborhoods in such a city, through observing the extent of the patients, their spatial variation, some of their demographic, economic and social characteristics, as well as the extent of the relation of getting depressed and some chronic diseases among the elderly.

The Study employed the Descriptive Analytical Approach by using a purposive sample of (200) old adults from both the males and females, whose ages are 60 years and over, and those who live with their families in Riyadh city.

The Study adapted a brief Depression Scale to measure the elderly’s depression, 15 clauses on the psychological (soldier) and some statistical techniques for processing the data, which indicated: (i) high rates of the elderly’s depression (%49) in Riyadh city; (ii) absence of spatial variation between the elderly’s depression among the neighborhoods of Riyadh city at a statistical level of (0.098); (iii) presence of a correlation at (0.000) between the elderly’s depression and some chronic diseases; and (iv) a correlation at (0.00) between the elderly depression and their demographic, social and economic characteristics.

The Study recommended the following: 1- More Studies should be conducted in the field of medical geography which is re;lated to mental illnesses.

2- Attention should be given to uncovering the mental illnesses among the elderly’s, especially the depression among the cities and the regions of Saudi Arabia.