The associations of depressive symptoms with cognitive and physical functions and frailty in elderly outpatients / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the associations of depressive symptoms with functional status and frailty in elderly outpatients.Methods A total of 297 geriatric outpatients(aged 65 years and over) from Zhejiang Hospital were recruited in the cross-sectional study from January 2014 to December 2015.We gathered general information,and evaluated depressive symptoms by Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15),cognitive function by mini-mental state examination(M MSE),frailty by clinical frailty scale(CFS),activities of daily living (ADL)by Barthel index,instrumental activities of daily living (IADL),balance,POMA and gait by Tinetti-performance oriented mobility assessment (Tinetti-POMA),grip strength and 4m gait speed by 4-meter walk gait speed test.According to the GDS-15 scores,297 geriatric outpatients were divided into a depression symptom group(n=35,GDS-15 ≥6)and a nomdepressive symptom group(n=262,GDS-15＜6).The frailty and functional status were compared between two groups by SPSS 23.0.Results As compared with non-depressive symptoms,the depressive symptoms group had higher clinical frailty scale(CFS),lower body mass index(BMI),lower cognitive function and poorer grip strength and balance(all P＜0.05).There were significantly negative correlations of Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15) with ADL,IADL,gait,balance,POMA and grip strength(r=-0.165、-0.154、-0.216、-0.291、-0.305、-0.314,All P＜ 0.05),while there were significantly positive correlations with CFS score,gait speed(r=0.256、0.198,both P＜0.05).The more severe the frailty was,the higher the risk of depressive symptoms was(OR=3.650,95％ CI 1.611-8.271).Conclusions The cognitive and physical functions in the elderly with depression symptoms are poorer as compared with the elderly without depression symptoms.Elderly outpatients with more severe frailty have a higher risk for depressive symptoms.