Depression Moderates the Frailty-Subjective Health Link among Chinese Near Centenarians and Centenarians
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Lau, Bobo Hi-Po
Kwan, Joseph Shiu-Kwong
Cheung, Karen Siu-Lan
Martin, Peter
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Objective
Very old adults may be physically frail, but they do not necessarily experience poor subjective health. The authors hypothesized that the relationship between frailty and subjective health is moderated by depression for very old people.
Methods
In a cross-sectional study, a survey administered was by a face-to-face interview to 129 community-dwelling older adults aged 95–108. Measurements included the five-item FRAIL scale, the Geriatric Depression Scale Short-Form (GDS), and a subjective health rating. Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to test the moderation effects, adjusting for age, gender, living arrangement, perceived socioeconomic status, and cognition.
Results
The interaction effect between frailty and depression was significant. Inspection of the simple slopes revealed that those who were more depressed had a more negative frailty–subjective health relationship. There was no significant moderation effect for a withdrawal-apathy-vigor dimension of the GDS.
Conclusion
Our findings suggest a protective psychological mechanism may enable very old adults to maintain an optimistic view of their health despite their increasing physical and functional limitations.
Very old adults may be physically frail, but they do not necessarily experience poor subjective health. The authors hypothesized that the relationship between frailty and subjective health is moderated by depression for very old people.
Methods
In a cross-sectional study, a survey administered was by a face-to-face interview to 129 community-dwelling older adults aged 95–108. Measurements included the five-item FRAIL scale, the Geriatric Depression Scale Short-Form (GDS), and a subjective health rating. Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to test the moderation effects, adjusting for age, gender, living arrangement, perceived socioeconomic status, and cognition.
Results
The interaction effect between frailty and depression was significant. Inspection of the simple slopes revealed that those who were more depressed had a more negative frailty–subjective health relationship. There was no significant moderation effect for a withdrawal-apathy-vigor dimension of the GDS.
Conclusion
Our findings suggest a protective psychological mechanism may enable very old adults to maintain an optimistic view of their health despite their increasing physical and functional limitations.
Date Issued
2016-09-01
Date Acceptance
2016-05-26
Citation
American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2016, 24 (9), pp.753-761
ISSN
1064-7481
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
753
End Page
761
Journal / Book Title
American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
Volume
24
Issue
9
Copyright Statement
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. This is an open access articleunder the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
License URL
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000408537200016&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Gerontology
Psychiatry
centenarians
frailty
depression
subjective health
Chinese
SELF-RATED HEALTH
OLDEST-OLD
GERIATRIC DEPRESSION
MENTAL-HEALTH
GEORGIA-CENTENARIAN
NEAR-CENTENARIANS
LATER LIFE
PEOPLE
SYMPTOMS
AGE
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2016-09-01