The Utility of Korean Version of the WHO Five Well-Being Index in Evaluating Depressive Symptoms and Quality of Life in the Aged Dwelling in Community

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Recently the number of geriatric depressed people has been increasing tremendously. Among many factors affecting depression, quality of life seems to be closely related to depression. Thus, a screening tool for assessing both geriatric depression and quality of life is needed. The purpose of this study is to estimate the utility of the Korean version of the WHO-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5) in evaluating geriatric depression as compared with SGDS-K (Short Geriatric Depression Scale of Korean version) that is being used widely and quality of life. METHODS: A sample of 244 subjects over 65-year old living in Yanggu and Inje area in Gangwon Province, Korea were interviewed and responded to scales, including WHO-5, SGDS-K, MMSE-KC (Mini Mental Status Examination in the Korean version of the CERAD assessment packet) and GQOL-D (Geriatric Quality of Life-Dementia). The total score of WHO-5 below 13 indicates low well-being. RESULTS: The WHO-5 inversely correlated with SGDS-K and positively with GQOL-D, but showed no significant correlation with MMSE-KC. The SGDS-K negatively correlated with WHO-5, MMSE-KC, and GQOL-D. Low well-being group (WHO-5 score<13) had lower GQOL-D score (t=1.9698, p<0.05) and higher SGDS-K score (t=1.9798, p<0.05) than high well-being group. In multiple regression analysis, WHO-5 was significantly associated with GQOL-D and SGDS-K (r2=0.29422, p=0.0000). CONCLUSION: The Korean version of WHO-5 was very useful to evaluate both depressive symptoms and quality of life in the aged dwelling in community.