Depressive Multimorbidity and Trajectories of Functional Status among Older Americans: Differences by Racial/Ethnic Group.
Anda Botoseneanu, Miriam R Elman, Heather G Allore and 4 others
PMID 36535384WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults with high depressive symptoms plus chronic disease accumulated daily living limitations about five times faster over time than those with neither.
Hispanic and Black participants also accumulated limitations faster than White participants.
Key findings
01Older adults with high depressive symptoms plus at least one chronic disease accumulated daily and instrumental daily living limitations about five times faster than those with no chronic disease or high depressive symptoms.
02Hispanic and Black participants accumulated functional limitations 27% and 31% faster than White participants in the adjusted model.
03Participants with depressive multimorbidity were predicted to reach one daily or instrumental daily living limitation 7 years earlier than participants with somatic multimorbidity.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study is observational, so it cannot show that depressive symptoms caused faster functional decline or that treating depression will prevent decline. Chronic diseases were self-reported, and high depressive symptoms were screened with 4 or more items on an 8-item scale rather than clinically diagnosed. Some older adults were excluded because of inconsistent disease reports, missing information, or proxy interviews, so the analysed sample was 16,364 of 20,911 eligible participants. American Indian, Asian, and other racial/ethnic groups were excluded because of small numbers. The study could not assess severity of chronic conditions, and it did not test whether functional limitations also lead to depressive symptoms.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not include an author conflict-of-interest declaration. The HRS cohort is described as supported by the National Institute on Aging and the Social Security Administration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that treating depression will reverse functional decline. This study observed older adults over time and did not test a depression treatment; depressive symptoms were screened by self-report rather than clinical diagnosis.