File
M. Imaoka1,2,3,4, H. Nakao1,2, M. Nakamura1,2, F. Tazaki1,2, R. Imai1, M. Hida1,2, T. Omizu5, M. Takeda3,2
1Osaka Kawasaki Rehabilitation University, Osaka, Japan, 2Cognitive Reserve Research Center, Osaka, Japan, 3National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi, Japan, 4Osaka Prefecture University, Oskaa, Japan, 5Kansai University of Welfare Sciences, Osaka, Japan
Background: Depressive symptoms and depression are common mental health problems. Previous studies on community-dwelling older adults have reported associations between depressive symptoms and physical and cognitive functions. However, few studies have investigated the relationship among depressive symptoms, frailty, sarcopenia, and locomotive syndrome in geriatric syndromes.
Purpose: This cross-sectional study aims to investigate the relationships among geriatric syndromes and depressive symptoms.
Methods: The data were obtained from 363 older adults (mean age 73.6±6.6 years, women =75.7%) who participated in a community-based health check investigation. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) and defined by a GDS-15 score of 5 and over. The study investigated frailty, sarcopenia, and locomotive syndrome as geriatric syndromes. The definition of frailty used in the present study has been provided in detail elsewhere. The components of frailty were based on those developed by Fried et al.: weight loss, weakness, exhaustion, low activity level, and slowness. The sarcopenia status of the study participants was evaluated using the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) consensus recommendations. The locomotive syndrome (the 2-step test) was conducted in accordance with the methods developed by Muranaga et al. Participants were asked to take two consecutive steps as far forward as possible and to stop at the second step.
To compare the characteristics between the depressive group and the non-depressive group, we used Pearson’s χ2 tests for categorical variables, a student’s t-test for continuous variables, and the Mann–Whitney U test for ordinal variables. Non-linear logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association among sarcopenia, frailty, locomotive syndrome, and depressive symptoms.
To compare the characteristics between the depressive group and the non-depressive group, we used Pearson’s χ2 tests for categorical variables, a student’s t-test for continuous variables, and the Mann–Whitney U test for ordinal variables. Non-linear logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association among sarcopenia, frailty, locomotive syndrome, and depressive symptoms.
Results: The prevalence of depressive symptoms in the sample was 28.1%. On comparing the two groups, the rate of frailty/pre-frailty was significantly higher in the depressive symptoms group. Depressive symptoms were not significantly associated with sarcopenia and the locomotive syndrome. In a logistic regression analysis with depressive symptoms as the dependent variable, the frailty odds ratio was 5.45 (95% CI: 2.23–13.31), while the pre-frailty odds ratio was 1.85 (95% CI: 1.09–3.01).
Conclusion(s): Our findings suggest that depressive symptoms are associated with frailty and pre-frailty in community-dwelling older adults.
Implications: Depressive symptoms are primarily associated with frailty in geriatric syndromes, thus evaluating frailty is considered important.
Funding, acknowledgements: This work was supported by Fuji Oil Co., Ltd.
Keywords: Depressive symptoms, Frailty, community-dwelling
Topic: Mental health
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: Osaka Kawasaki Rehabilitation University
Committee: Osaka Kawasaki Rehabilitation University Ethics Committee
Ethics number: No. OKRU 29-020, OKRU29-021.
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
