It is difficult to obtain prevalence rates specifically for older gay men. In relation to sexual orientation, Cochran and Mays ( Reference Cochran and Mays2009) reported that 21.5% of their sample of gay men were likely to meet the criteria for major depressive disorder in the previous 12 months and were 2.3 times more likely to have a probable diagnosis than heterosexual men. ( Reference Pirkis2009) reported the age-adjusted prevalence rate of clinically significant depression to be 8.6% and a major depressive episode to be 1.9% among a community sample of 9,013 Australian men aged 60 years and over. Older age (Pirkis et al., Reference Pirkis2009 Zhang et al., Reference Zhang, Xu, Nie, Zhang and Wu2012) and sexual orientation (Cochran and Mays, Reference Cochran and Mays2009) are risk factors for depression among men.
