Older adults residing in long-term care homes are less likely to suffer from depressive symptoms than those living in the community, according to a recent study.

Researchers from the University of Manchester studied 414 people with severe dementia along with their carers in England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. The study gathered information on quality of life, activities of daily living such as bathing, feeding and dressing and presence of depressive symptoms using standardized measures.

In the groups studied, 37 percent of the 217 people living in the community showed signs of depression compared to 23 percent of the 197 in care homes. It is one of the few studies comparing similar groups of people living at home and in nursing homes.

"Despite the differences between the countries involved, the pattern of depression observed in the community-dwelling group was consistent," David Challis, who led the study, said in a statement."In addition this difference may be partly explained by the responses received from carers."

Often, relatives of people with dementia are more distressed by symptoms of depression than professional care workers, so this may have influenced their ratings on the depression measure.

"What we need is more support for carers to help them cope with their relatives' depressive symptoms and to recognize the problem before it gets to severe levels," he added.

The findings are detailed in the journal International Psychogeriatrics.