Unrecognized Psychiatric Illness in Elderly Medical-Surgical Patients

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Abstract
Research diagnostic criteria were used in a structured interview to evaluate the presence of unrecognized psychiatric illness in 50 acute medical and surgical patients over the age of 65 at the La Jolla Veterans Administration Hospital; 24% of the subjects had unrecognized major mental disorders — predominantly depression or alcoholism. The geriatric patients most likely to have unrecognized illness were older, widowed or divorced, had past jail and/or psychiatric hospital experiences, and gave histories of vascular disorders. The results are consistent with past literature on the elderly.

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