OBJETIVOS: Estimar a prevalência de sintomas depressivos entre idosos internados no Serviço de Emergência do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre-RS e verificar a associação entre sintomas depressivos e características sociodemográficas e de utilização de serviços de saúde pelos idosos. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal com 96 idosos internados em um serviço de emergência. A presença de sintomas depressivos foi avaliada por meio da aplicação da Escala de Depressão Geriátrica - versão reduzida (EDG-15), e foi aplicado instrumento sobre variáveis sociodemográficas e de utilização dos serviços de saúde. Foram realizadas análises descritivas e bivariáveis, e o nível de significância estatística adotado foi de 5% (p≤0,05). RESULTADOS: Encontrou-se a prevalência de 36,5% de sintomas depressivos na amostra, sendo que destes, 6,3% dos idosos apresentavam pontuação sugestiva de depressão grave. Identificou-se associação significativa entre sintomas depressivos e viuvez, observando-se que os sintomas depressivos foram mais frequentes entre as mulheres, os de baixa escolaridade e os que não utilizaram serviços de saúde. CONCLUSÃO: O estudo encontrou alta prevalência de sintomas depressivos entre idosos internados no serviço de emergência. Ressalta-se a importância do reconhecimento e realização do diagnóstico de depressão em idosos nesses serviços com objetivo de se trabalhar com uma visão ampliada do processo de saúde-doença, oferecer tratamento e melhores intervenções na rede.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms among elderly patients admitted in the emergency service of Porto Alegre Clinical Hospital, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, and assess the association between depressive symptoms and sociodemographic characteristics and use of health services by the elderly. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of 96 elderly patients admitted to the emergency room. The presence of depressive symptoms was evaluated through the application of the Geriatric Depression Scale - short version (GDS-15), and was applied instrument on sociodemographic variables and use of health services. Descriptive and bivariate analyzes were performed, and statistical significance level was 5% (p≤0.05). RESULTS: We found a prevalence of 36.5% of depressive symptoms in the sample, and of these, 6.3% of the elderly had scores suggestive of severe depression. It identified significant association between depressive symptoms and widowhood, observing that depressive symptoms were more frequent among women, low education and those who did not use health services. CONCLUSION: The study found high prevalence of depressive symptoms among elderly patients admitted in the emergency department. It emphasizes the importance of recognizing and making the diagnosis of depression in the elderly in these services in order to work with a broader view of the health-disease process, provide treatment and better interventions on the network.

Introduction We hypothesized that nutritional deficiency would be common in a cohort of postpartum, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected women and their infants. Methods Weight and height, as well as blood concentrations of retinol, α-tocopherol, ferritin, hemoglobin, and zinc, were measured in mothers after delivery and in their infants at birth and at 6-12 weeks and six months of age. Retinol and α-tocopherol levels were quantified by high performance liquid chromatography, and zinc levels were measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The maternal body mass index during pregnancy was adjusted for gestational age (adjBMI). Results Among the 97 women 19.6% were underweight. Laboratory abnormalities were most frequently observed for the hemoglobin (46.4%), zinc (41.1%), retinol (12.5%) and ferritin (6.5%) levels. Five percent of the women had mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentrations < 31g/dL. The most common deficiency in the infants was α-tocopherol (81%) at birth; however, only 18.5% of infants had deficient levels at six months of age. Large percentages of infants had zinc (36.8%) and retinol (29.5%) deficiencies at birth; however, these percentages decreased to 17.5% and 18.5%, respectively, by six months of age. No associations between infant micronutrient deficiencies and either the maternal adjBMI category or maternal micronutrient deficiencies were found. Conclusions Micronutrient deficiencies were common in HIV-infected women and their infants. Micronutrient deficiencies were less prevalent in the infants at six months of age. Neither underweight women nor their infants at birth were at increased risk for micronutrient deficiencies.