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Lifestyle‐ and diet‐related factors in late‐life depression—a 5‐year follow‐up of elderly European men: the FINE study
Author(s) -
Bots Sinikka,
Tijhuis Marja,
Giampaoli Simona,
Kromhout Daan,
Nissinen Aulikki
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.1919
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , late life depression , medicine , odds ratio , gerontology , confidence interval , population , prospective cohort study , demography , risk factor , environmental health , hippocampal formation , sociology , economics , macroeconomics
Objective Late‐life depression is one of the main health problems among elderly populations and a key element of healthy ageing. Causal relationships of lifestyle‐ and diet‐related factors in late‐life depression are unclear. This study investigates prospective associations of lifestyle‐ and diet‐related factors with development of categorically defined late‐life depression in a well‐documented population of elderly European men. Subjects and methods Altogether 526 not‐demented and not‐depressed European men aged 70–89 at baseline were included in the analyses. The association of lifestyle‐related and dietary factors with development of categorically defined depression (> = 48/80 on the Zung Self‐rating Depression Scale) was assessed in a follow‐up of 5 years. Results Eleven percent ( n = 59) of the men developed depression during follow‐up. An independent association with development of depression was found for baseline depressive status [Odds Ratio (OR) 1.19, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.10–1.28, p < 0.001], a decline in serum total cholesterol level between study years (OR 1.76, 95%CI: 1.01–3.04, p = 0.045), physical activity (OR 0.97, 95%CI: 0.94–1.00, p = 0.022) and moderate alcohol intake (OR 0.35, 95%CI: 0.14–0.87, p = 0.023) but not for dietary factors. Conclusions This study of a well‐documented population of elderly European men confirms that physical activity and moderate alcohol consumption may protect against depression in the old‐old. Our results are the first to suggest that a decline in serum cholesterol level may predict development of late‐life depression. As the effects of age, medication and incipient cognitive decline could not be entirely ruled out; this finding must be interpreted with care. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.