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An association between incident disability and depressive symptoms over 3 years of follow-up among older women: The Women’s Health and Aging Study

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Abstract

Background and aims: To examine the impact of new disability on the incidence of depressive symptoms, with 3-year biannual data from The Woman’s Health and Aging Study. Methods: Subjects (n=671) were selected if they were independent at baseline in 5 basic activities of daily living (ADLs) and were not depressed [scored <14 on the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS; range 0 to 30)]. During the follow-ups, worsening of ADL disability (needed help on an increased number of ADLs) and onset of depressive symptoms (GDS score ≥14) were defined. For each pair of consecutive interviews in which depressive symptoms were not present in the first interview in the pair, we assessed incidence of worsening disability and depressive symptoms in the second interview of the pair. We also summarized the incidence of depressive symptoms 6 months later among the people who did not develop depressive symptoms at the time they reported a new disability. Results: Compared with those not developing disability, after adjusting for demographic characteristics, number of diseases, and ADL difficulty level at the moment of onset of the disability, the odds ratio (OR) for developing depressive symptoms at disability onset was 2.2 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.1–4.3). For those developing new disability without depressive symptoms, the adjusted OR for developing depressive symptoms 6 months later was 1.7 (CI 0.6–4.8). Conclusion: Onset of new disability in basic ADLs had a significant impact on the development of depressive symptoms at the moment of onset. Our results demonstrate that clinicians should carefully evaluate depressive symptoms in patients with new onset of disability.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geriatric Research Center, Landspitali University Hospital, Landakot, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Milan Chang PhD

  2. Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography, and Biometry, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Caroline Phillips, Antonia K. Coppin, Michiel van der Linden, Luigi Ferrucci & Jack M. Guralnik

  3. Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Linda Fried

  4. The Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Linda Fried

Authors
  1. Milan Chang PhD
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  2. Caroline Phillips
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  3. Antonia K. Coppin
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  4. Michiel van der Linden
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  5. Luigi Ferrucci
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  6. Linda Fried
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  7. Jack M. Guralnik
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Milan Chang PhD.

Additional information

This study was presented in the annual meetings of The Gerontological Society of America in 2004 and the abstract was published. M. Chang, M. van der Linden, A.K. Coppin, C. Phillips, L. Ferrucci, L. Fried, J.M. Guralnik. Effect of incident disability on depressive symptoms over 3 years of follow-up among older women, The Gerontological Society of America, Annual Meeting, November 19–23, 2004.

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Chang, M., Phillips, C., Coppin, A.K. et al. An association between incident disability and depressive symptoms over 3 years of follow-up among older women: The Women’s Health and Aging Study. Aging Clin Exp Res 21, 191–197 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03325228

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03325228

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