Melbourne doctors are asking GPs to consider scurvy in patients with depression, after treating an elderly woman whose declining mental health and anaemia turned out to be symptoms of the disease.

The 66-year-old woman, who had a history of schizophrenia, depression and previous suicide attempts, was referred to an ED by a crisis assessment team, due to concerns about her physical and mental health.

Her husband had noticed that her mental health had deteriorated over the past few weeks without obvious stressors, with increasing negative thoughts and decreased motivation of self-care.

He revealed his wife had been eating very little for the past several months, with her diet mainly consisting of minced meat, doctors from the Alfred Hospital and Monash Health Department of General Practice wrote in BMJ Case Reports.