In our study, the prevalence rates of depression at baseline were 7.1% and 7.6% in men and women respectively.
The rates reduced to 3.2% and 5.2% in two year follow up. The reported rates were much lower than that of another
local study conducted by Woo et al. The difference might due to the different sampling method used as all her respondents were welfare recipients and replied questionnaire by phone. Our prevalence rates were low compared to other elder population-based studies, of those aged sixty five and above selected by systematic random sampling, 10.2% of men and 14.8% of women in Hong Kong were found to have clinically significant symptoms of depression (Chi et al.,2005).
Our subjects were all volunteers recruited from the community, as a result, it would generally consist of a healthier group of participants, both psychologically and physically than the general population.