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. 2017 Nov 16;17(1):366.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-017-1534-5.

Study approach and field work procedures of the MentDis_ICF65+ project on the prevalence of mental disorders in the older adult European population

Jana Volkert  1   2 , Martin Härter  3 , Maria Christina Dehoust  3 , Holger Schulz  3 , Susanne Sehner  4 , Anna Suling  4 , Karl Wegscheider  4 , Berta Ausín  5 , Alessandra Canuto  6 , Mike J Crawford  7 , Chiara Da Ronch  8 , Luigi Grassi  8 , Yael Hershkovitz  9 , Manuel Muñoz  5 , Alan Quirk  7 , Ora Rotenstein  9 , Ana Belén Santos-Olmo  5 , Arieh Y Shalev  10 , Jens Strehle  11 , Kerstin Weber  12 , Hans-Ulrich Wittchen  11   13 , Sylke Andreas  3   14   15
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Study approach and field work procedures of the MentDis_ICF65+ project on the prevalence of mental disorders in the older adult European population

Jana Volkert et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: This study describes the study approach and field procedures of the MentDis_ICF65+ study, which aims to assess the prevalence of mental disorders in older adults.

Methods: An age-appropriate version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI65+) was developed and tested with regard to its feasibility and psychometric properties in a pre-test and pilot phase. In the cross-sectional survey an age-stratified, random sample of older adults (65-84 years) living in selected catchment areas of five European countries and Israel was recruited.

Results: N = 3142 participants (mean age 73.7 years, 50.7% female) took part in face-to-face interviews. The mean response rate was 20% and varied significantly between centres, age and gender groups. Sociodemographic differences between the study centres appeared for the place of birth, number of grandchildren, close significants, retirement and self-rated financial situation. The comparison of the MentDis_ICF65+ sample with the catchment area and country population of the study centres revealed significant differences, although most of these were numerically small.

Conclusions: The study will generate new information on the prevalence of common mental disorders among older adults across Europe using an age-appropriate, standardized diagnostic instrument and a harmonized approach to sampling. Generalizability of the findings and a potentially limited representativeness are discussed.

Keywords: Mental disorders; Methodology; Old age; Prevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by research ethics committees in all six countries: Germany: Hamburg Ethic Committee of the Medical Association No. 2895, Italy: Comitato Etico Della Provincia Di Ferrara No. 0096637 5/11/2009, Israel: Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects of the Hebrew University- Hadassah Medical School Jerusalem No. 0376–09 -HMO, Spain: Comisión Deontolgica de la Facultad de Psicologia Universidad Complutense de Madrid No. 22032010, Switzerland: Hopitaux Universitaires de Genève Comité d’Éthique Protocol No 09–121; UK: National Research Ethics Service Central London No. 10/H0715/21. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Design of multi-stage and multi-centre MentDis_ICF65+ study. Detailed legend: RQ = Research Question; GE = Germany, IT = Italy, EN = England, SP = Spain, SW = Switzerland, IS = Israel; CIDI65+ = Composite International Diagnostic Interview for Adults aged 65 years and above
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Results of the responder analysis for each study centre. Detailed legend: The response rate (in %) of the contacted sample was calculated by 2 age groups (65–74 years/ 75–84), gender (male/ female) and study centre (Hamburg/ Ferrara/ London/ Madrid/ Geneva/ Jerusalem). The dashed line shows the response rate for the total sample
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