Study: Fifth of over 55s have mental disorder

A new study looking at tens of thousands of GP patient records has found almost one in five people over the age of 55 had a mental disorder.

The study, ‘Identified mental disorders in older adults in primary care: A cross-sectional database study’, was published in the European Journal of General Practice and involved researchers from University College Dublin, the University of Limerick, and King’s College London.

They collected anonymised data from 35 GP practices nationally between June 2014 and March 2015, and then analysed it for the prevalence of mental disorders in adults aged over 55 years.