Prevalence and Factors Associated with Depression among
the Hill Tribe Elderly Population, Thailand
Wilawan Chaiut MSc 1,2 , Thapakorn Ruanjai MSc 1,2 , Supaporn Trongsakul PhD 1 , Ratipark Tamornpark MSc 2 , Tawatchai Apidechkul Dr.PH (Epidemiology) 1,2
Affiliation :
1 School of Health Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand 2 Center of Excellence for the Hill Tribe Health Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand
Background : The elderly hill tribe people are one of the vulnerable populations who are facing the non-communicable disease in
Thailand under the limitation to access health care services.
Objective : The present study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with depression among the six main hill tribe
elderly populations in Thailand.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Participants were recruited from 61 hill tribe villages in Chiang
Rai province, Thailand who had been identified as one of six main hill tribe groups and age ≥ 60 years old. A validated questionnaire
was developed and used for data collection. A geriatric depressive scale (GDS-15), physical health assessment forms, and quality of
life assessing form were used for assessing the depression and physical health among the participants. A simple random method
was used to select the participants. Logistic regression was used for evaluating the associations between variables at the significant
level alpha = 0.05.
Results : Total of 717 participants were recruited into the study with mean age at 70.07 years (SD = 7.53), 50.3% were women,
6.1% had no Thai national identification card, 71.1% were Buddhist. 94.1% were illiterate, 93.7% were living alone, 37.4% had
no occupation, and 88.8% had income less than 5,000 baht/month (165$US). The health assessment showed 14.5% had BMI at
underweight level, 14.8% drank alcohol, and 20.1% smoked, 31.4% had HT, 10.2% had DM, 3.5% had heart disease, 43.0% had
oral problem, 25.7% had gout, 19.7% had problem of cognitive impairment, and 51.1% had overall low level of quality of life. The
overall prevalence of depression was 32.9%. The multiple logistic regression model showed that two variables were associated
with depression among the hill tribe elderly population; tribe and smoking behaviors. Akha tribe had a greater chance to develop
depression than Hmong with OR = 2.06 (95%CI = 1.18 - 3.60, p-value = 0.011), Lahu had a greater chance to develop depression
than Hmong with OR = 1.81 (95%CI = 1.02-3.20, p-value = 0.041), and Lisu had a greater chance to develop depression than Hmong
with OR = 1.77 (95%CI = 1.01-3.11, p-value = 0.046). The hill tribe elderly who quit smoking had a greater chance to develop
depression than those who did not smoke with OR = 1.53 (95%CI = 1.02-2.34, p-value = 0.049).
Conclusion : One-third of hill tribe elderly population have depression, therefore Thailand needs to develop a standard tool for
assessing depression in the hill tribe elderly, and also needs to develop the health promotion program to improve this problem in
these particular populations.
Keywords : Depression, Hill tribe, Elderly, Prevalence
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