Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that as much as 5 percent of older adults living in the general community are suffering from clinical depression. Those figures are even higher among older adults who are hospitalized (11.5 percent) and those who require home health care (13.5 percent). The National Council on Aging reports that older adults are at an elevated risk of developing depression, though there's no single, specific cause increasing that risk. Chronic conditions, which the CDC estimates affect as much as 80 percent of older adults; decreased functio...