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Association between fish intake and depressive symptoms among community-living older Chinese adults in Singapore: A cross-sectional study

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The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Objective

Our aim of this study was to investigate the association between fish consumption and depressive symptoms in senior ethnic Chinese residents of Singapore.

Design

A population-based crosssectional study.

Setting

The Singapore Longitudinal Aging Studies (SLAS).

Participant

The study consisted of 2,034 participants from the Singapore Longitudinal Aging Studies (SLAS) project who were at least 55 years old.

Measurements

The presence of depressive symptoms was compared between those who self-reported eating fish at least three times a week versus those who ate fish less often. A score of 5 or greater on the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) was the cutoff for being designated as having depressive symptoms.

Results

Fish intake was associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms ([odds ratio] OR = 0.60, 95% [confidence interval] CI 0.40–0.90; P =.015) after controlling for age, sex, marital status, housing, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical exercise, social and productive activities, self-rated health, hypertension, diabetes, heart failure or attack, stroke, fruit and vegetable intake, and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that eating fish at least three times a week is associated with a lower odds of having depressive symptoms among Chinese adults over 55 years old living in Singapore.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Psychological Institute, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China

    Daxing Wu

  2. Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    L. Feng, Q. Gao, J. C. M. Wong, E. H. Kua & Tze-Pin Ng

  3. Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore

    L. Feng, Q. Gao, J. C. M. Wong, E. H. Kua & Tze-Pin Ng

  4. Department of Statistics and Applied Probability, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    J. L. Li & K. S. Rajendran

Authors
  1. Daxing Wu
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  2. L. Feng
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  3. Q. Gao
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  4. J. L. Li
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  5. K. S. Rajendran
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  6. J. C. M. Wong
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  7. E. H. Kua
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  8. Tze-Pin Ng
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Daxing Wu or Tze-Pin Ng.

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Wu, D., Feng, L., Gao, Q. et al. Association between fish intake and depressive symptoms among community-living older Chinese adults in Singapore: A cross-sectional study. J Nutr Health Aging 20, 404–407 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-015-0590-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-015-0590-0

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