ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DEPRESSION AND QUALITY OF LIFE ON ELDERLIES: A CORRELATION BETWEEN BRAZIL AND PORTUGAL
Depression, Quality of Life, Health of the Elderly, Health Promotion, Primary Health Care.
Introduction: Aging has been growing at an accelerated rate in the world, which increases the vulnerability of these people and can worsen pre-existing pathological conditions. Depression interferes with quality of life (QoL), generating a greater search for health services, low adherence to treatment, disregard for self-care and greater propensity to commit suicide. Objective: To compare the association between depression and quality of life of elderly people treated in Primary Health Care in Brazil and Portugal. Method: Analytical, cross-sectional comparative study with a quantitative approach, which evaluated 150 elderly people, 100 in Brazil and 50 in Portugal, using the following instruments: Sociodemographic Questionnaire; Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15); Medical Outcomes Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). In both countries, the project was approved by the respective Research Ethics Committees in Natal/Brazil (Opinion No. 562,318) and the University of Évora/Portugal (Opinion No. 14011). Results: The association of the SF-36 with the GDS-15 demonstrated, in both countries, that the highest percentiles are associated with the absence of depression and that, with the increase in depressive symptoms, QOL was reduced. However, Portugal obtained better QOL results and with more domains showing statistical significance. Conclusion: Therefore, psychosocial malfunction maximizes the vulnerability of the elderly to depression and low quality of life, requiring strategies to strengthen intervention and health promotion actions for this target audience, reducing clinical complications.