Gaziantep Üniv. Tıp Fak. Psikiyatri AD, GAZİANTEP

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients who applied to the Geropsychiatry Unit of Gaziantep University Faculty of Medicine. Methods: Over 65 years age patients' medical records, who applied to Geropsychiatry Unit were evaluated retrospectively. Results: Over 65 years of age, of the patients, 61.4% were female, 50.9% were illiterate, and 82.5% had social reassurance. According to the DSM-IV criteria there was only one disorder in 66.6% patients (n=38). Those were, anxiety disorders (31.6%, n=18), depression (10.5%, n=6), dementia (17.5%, n=10), and bipolar disorder (7.0%, n=4). 33.4% of (n=19) the patients had comorbid disorders. Those were anxiety-depression (17.5%, n=10), dementiadepression (8.8%, n=5), dementia-anxiety (3.5%, n=2), and bipolar disorders-anxiety (3.5%, n=2). Conclusions: There has not been any study, evaluating the sociodemographic features of the patients who applied to a specialized clinic in Southeastern Anatolia and our research differs from the other studies from this aspect. In this study, depression and anxiety disorder were determined commonly in geriatric patients. Providing we are aware of the psychiatric disorders encountered, we will also be able to reach the right diagnoses and treatments in this group.