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The effect of depressive symptoms on disability-free survival in healthy older adults: A prospective cohort study

journal contribution
posted on 2023-02-10, 01:51 authored by G Roebuck, Mojtaba Lotfaliany Abrand AbadiMojtaba Lotfaliany Abrand Abadi, B Agustini, M Forbes, Mohammadreza MohebbiMohammadreza Mohebbi, J McNeil, RL Woods, CM Reid, MR Nelson, RC Shah, J Ryan, AB Newman, A Owen, R Freak-Poli, N Stocks, M Berk
Background: Gerontology and ageing research are increasingly focussing on healthy life span (healthspan), the period of life lived free of serious disease and disability. Late-life depression (LLD) is believed to impact adversely on physical health. However, no studies have examined its effect on healthspan. This study investigated the effect of LLD and subthreshold depression on disability-free survival, a widely accepted measure of healthspan. Methods: This prospective cohort study used data from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly study. Participants were aged ≥70 years (or ≥65 years for African-American and Hispanic participants) and free of dementia, physical disability and cardiovascular disease. Depressive symptoms were measured using the 10-item Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10). LLD and subthreshold depression were defined as CES-D-10 scores ≥8 and 3–7, respectively. Disability-free survival was defined as survival free of dementia and persistent physical disability. Results: A total of 19,110 participants were followed up for a maximum of 7.3 years. In female participants, LLD was associated with lower disability-free survival adjusting for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, medical comorbidities, polypharmacy, physical function and antidepressant use (HR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.23–1.82). In male participants, LLD was associated with lower disability-free survival adjusting for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors (HR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.03–1.64). Subthreshold depression was also associated with lower disability-free survival in both sexes. Conclusions: LLD may be a common and important risk factor for shortened healthspan.

History

Journal

Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica

Volume

147

Pagination

92-104

Location

United States

ISSN

0001-690X

eISSN

1600-0447

Language

English

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Issue

1

Publisher

WILEY