Changes in Satisfaction with Meaningful Activities and Onset of Depressive Symptoms among Community-Dwelling Japanese Older Adults: A Population-Based Study Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Michio Maruta, Takayuki Tabira, Suguru Shimokihara and 10 others
PMID 37037348WHAT IT FOUND
Community-dwelling older adults whose satisfaction with their most meaningful activities fell were more likely to develop depressive symptoms during follow-up.
Ask what matters to them, not just what they do, when planning mental health support.
Key findings
01Of the 231 older adults analysed, 33 (14.3%) developed depressive symptoms at follow-up.
02Decreased satisfaction with most meaningful activities was more common among participants who developed depressive symptoms than among those who did not (36.4% vs 20.7%; P = .048).
03After adjustment for age, sex, baseline depressive symptoms, cognitive status, physical status, and IADLs, decreased satisfaction remained associated with depressive symptom onset (OR 2.78; 95% CI 1.17-6.59; P = .020).
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What it does not show
Only 33 participants developed depressive symptoms, and the confidence intervals for the adjusted association were wide. 424 participants were lost to follow-up, and the included participants appear to have had better health status than those not followed up. Participants were volunteers in one Japanese city, not randomly sampled from the community. The study did not measure social support, socioeconomic status, resilience, purpose in life, or life satisfaction. The study observed associations over time, so it cannot show that changing satisfaction caused or prevented depressive symptoms.
Declared interests
No conflict-of-interest declaration is provided in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that improving satisfaction with meaningful activities will prevent depression. This was an observational cohort, not a tested intervention, and only 33 participants developed depressive symptoms.