TY - JOUR
KW - Adult
KW - Affective Symptoms/diagnosis/epidemiology/psychology
KW - Age Factors
KW - Aged
KW - Attitude of Health Personnel
KW - Cross-Sectional Studies
KW - Diagnosis, Differential
KW - Female
KW - Humans
KW - Israel
KW - Male
KW - Middle Aged
KW - Personality Inventory/statistics & numerical data
KW - Primary Health Care/statistics & numerical data
KW - Psychometrics/statistics & numerical data
KW - Questionnaires
KW - Referral and Consultation/statistics & numerical data
KW - Reproducibility of Results
KW - Sex Factors
KW - Sick Role
KW - Somatoform Disorders/diagnosis/epidemiology/psychology
KW - Stress, Psychological/diagnosis/epidemiology/psychology
AU - J. Rabinowitz
AU - D. Shayevitz
AU - T. Hornik
AU - D. Feldman
A1 - 
AB - OBJECTIVES: Elderly persons suffer from high rates of psychological distress that are sometimes unrecognized by healthcare providers. Authors compared rates of psychological distress and physician detection among elderly and non-elderly primary-care patients and examined, among elderly patients, variables associated with distress and physician detection. METHODS: This was a national survey of a sample of 2,325 Israeli primary healthcare recipients and 67 physicians. Patients completed the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and background questionnaires. Physicians completed forms indicating their diagnosis and treatment and their attitudes toward elderly patients. RESULTS: Of those age 60 and over, 58.7% had a GHQ score reflecting distress, as did 49% of those age 40-59 and 30.4% of those age 18-39. There was no age-group difference in physician concordance on GHQ. In elderly patients, variables associated with GHQ psychological distress were being female, having more self-reported chronic diseases, poorer self-reported health, and more frequent primary-care clinic visits. Physician agreement with GHQ distress for elderly patients was best for female patients and patients who visited a physician more often. Physicians treated 71% of the instances of distress they noted in older patients and 42% of the GHQ-detected cases. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians appear to detect distress no less accurately among older than younger patients. A majority of elderly primary-care patients are distressed, and many of them are neither diagnosed nor treated for distress. Increased attention by primary-care physicians to possible psychological distress among elderly patients who perceive their health status as poor and those patients who visit more frequently could improve detection of distress among these elderly patients.
BT - The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry : Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
C5 - Medically Unexplained Symptoms
CP - 9
CY - United States
DO - 10.1176/appi.ajgp.13.9.773
IS - 9
JF - The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry : Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
N2 - OBJECTIVES: Elderly persons suffer from high rates of psychological distress that are sometimes unrecognized by healthcare providers. Authors compared rates of psychological distress and physician detection among elderly and non-elderly primary-care patients and examined, among elderly patients, variables associated with distress and physician detection. METHODS: This was a national survey of a sample of 2,325 Israeli primary healthcare recipients and 67 physicians. Patients completed the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and background questionnaires. Physicians completed forms indicating their diagnosis and treatment and their attitudes toward elderly patients. RESULTS: Of those age 60 and over, 58.7% had a GHQ score reflecting distress, as did 49% of those age 40-59 and 30.4% of those age 18-39. There was no age-group difference in physician concordance on GHQ. In elderly patients, variables associated with GHQ psychological distress were being female, having more self-reported chronic diseases, poorer self-reported health, and more frequent primary-care clinic visits. Physician agreement with GHQ distress for elderly patients was best for female patients and patients who visited a physician more often. Physicians treated 71% of the instances of distress they noted in older patients and 42% of the GHQ-detected cases. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians appear to detect distress no less accurately among older than younger patients. A majority of elderly primary-care patients are distressed, and many of them are neither diagnosed nor treated for distress. Increased attention by primary-care physicians to possible psychological distress among elderly patients who perceive their health status as poor and those patients who visit more frequently could improve detection of distress among these elderly patients.
PP - United States
PY - 2005
SN - 1064-7481; 1064-7481
SP - 773
EP - 780
EP - 
T1 - Primary care physicians' detection of psychological distress among elderly patients
T2 - The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry : Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
TI - Primary care physicians' detection of psychological distress among elderly patients
U1 - Medically Unexplained Symptoms
U2 - 16166406
U3 - 10.1176/appi.ajgp.13.9.773
VL - 13
VO - 1064-7481; 1064-7481
Y1 - 2005
ER -