Depressed emotions on rise in old people

SHANGHAI - More elderly people in Chinese cities are suffering from feelings of depression, which are becoming almost as common in China as they are in developed countries, according to recent research.

A team from the Laboratory of Mental Health under the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that nearly 40 percent of the elderly people living in Chinese cities are suffering from feelings of depression, significantly more than had experienced such feelings 20 years ago.

In conducting the study, researchers looked at more than 4,900 people. The subjects hailed from 29 prominent cities and were all older than 55.