Physical Limitations and Depressive Symptoms: Exploring the Nature of the Association

Overview

Journal J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci

Specialties Geriatrics
Psychology
Social Sciences

Date 2008 Aug 12

PMID 18689771

Citations 61

Authors

Mathew D Gayman

R Jay Turner

Ming Cui

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: Although evidence suggests that physical disability and depression may be reciprocally related, questions of causality versus spuriousness and the direction of causality remain to be confidently answered. This study considered the hypothesis of reciprocal influence; the possibility of spuriousness in relation to pain, stress, and lifetime major depression; and the possible mediating effects of pain and social stress.

Methods: We analyzed data from a two-wave panel study of Miami-Dade County residents (n = 1,455) that included a substantial oversampling of individuals reporting a physical disability.

Results: Results indicated that, although prior levels of physical limitations predicted changes in depressive symptoms, there was no evidence of the reverse association. Results also indicated that part of the association between prior physical limitations and changes in depressive symptoms was explained by intervening level of pain and, to a lesser extent, by the day-to-day experience of discrimination.

Discussion: Much of whatever causation may be involved in the linkage between physical limitations and depressive symptomatology flows from limitations to depression rather than in the reverse direction. Results also make clear that this linkage is not an artifact of shared associations with pain, social stress, or lifetime major depression.

Citing Articles

Subjective Cognitive Decline in Community-Dwelling Older Adults With Objectively Normal Cognition: Mediation by Depression and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living.

Kim A, Chu S, Oh S, Lee E, Choi J, Kim W Psychiatry Investig. 2024; 21(6):583-589.

PMID: 38960435 PMC: 11222078. DOI: 10.30773/pi.2023.0403.

Depression in persons with disabilities: a scoping review.

Asdaq S, Alshehri S, Alajlan S, Almutiri A, Alanazi A Front Public Health. 2024; 12:1383078.

PMID: 38779421 PMC: 11110534. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1383078.

Exploring the Influence of Social Class and Sex on Self-Reported Health: Insights from a Representative Population-Based Study.

Prieto L Life (Basel). 2024; 14(2).

PMID: 38398693 PMC: 10890034. DOI: 10.3390/life14020184.

Anxiety and Health Concerns among Healthcare Personnel Working with COVID-19 Patients: A Self-Assessment Study.

Czorniej K, Krajewska-Kulak E, Kulak W Med Sci Monit. 2023; 29:e940766.

PMID: 37742068 PMC: 10537305. DOI: 10.12659/MSM.940766.

Does long-term care insurance reduce the disability among middle-aged and older adults? Evidence from China.

Cao N, Shi T, Pan C BMC Public Health. 2023; 23(1):1138.

PMID: 37312092 PMC: 10265914. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-16057-0.

References

Fries J, Spitz P, Kraines R, HOLMAN H . Measurement of patient outcome in arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 1980; 23(2):137-45. DOI: 10.1002/art.1780230202. View

Katz S, Ford A, Moskowitz R, Jackson B, JAFFE M . STUDIES OF ILLNESS IN THE AGED. THE INDEX OF ADL: A STANDARDIZED MEASURE OF BIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOSOCIAL FUNCTION. JAMA. 1963; 185:914-9. DOI: 10.1001/jama.1963.03060120024016. View

ROSOW I, Breslau N . A Guttman health scale for the aged. J Gerontol. 1966; 21(4):556-9. DOI: 10.1093/geronj/21.4.556. View

Kelley-Moore J, Ferraro K . A 3-D model of health decline: disease, disability, and depression among Black and White older adults. J Health Soc Behav. 2006; 46(4):376-91. DOI: 10.1177/002214650504600405. View

Jiang J, Tang Z, Futatsuka M, Zhang K . Exploring the influence of depressive symptoms on physical disability: a cohort study of elderly in Beijing, China. Qual Life Res. 2004; 13(7):1337-46. DOI: 10.1023/B:QURE.0000037500.26166.0c. View

Corruble E, Guelfi J . Pain complaints in depressed inpatients. Psychopathology. 2000; 33(6):307-9. DOI: 10.1159/000029163. View

Farmer M, Ferraro K . Distress and perceived health: mechanisms of health decline. J Health Soc Behav. 1997; 38(3):298-311. View

Kempen G, Sullivan M, van Sonderen E, Ormel J . Performance-based and self-reported physical functioning in low-functioning older persons: congruence of change and the impact of depressive symptoms. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2000; 54(6):P380-6. DOI: 10.1093/geronb/54b.6.p380. View

Penninx B, Leveille S, Ferrucci L, van Eijk J, Guralnik J . Exploring the effect of depression on physical disability: longitudinal evidence from the established populations for epidemiologic studies of the elderly. Am J Public Health. 1999; 89(9):1346-52. PMC: 1508750. DOI: 10.2105/ajph.89.9.1346. View

10.

Turner R, Avison W . Status variations in stress exposure: implications for the interpretation of research on race, socioeconomic status, and gender. J Health Soc Behav. 2004; 44(4):488-505. View

11.

Breslau N . Depressive symptoms, major depression, and generalized anxiety: a comparison of self-reports on CES-D and results from diagnostic interviews. Psychiatry Res. 1985; 15(3):219-29. DOI: 10.1016/0165-1781(85)90079-4. View

12.

Kessler R, Mickelson K, Williams D . The prevalence, distribution, and mental health correlates of perceived discrimination in the United States. J Health Soc Behav. 1999; 40(3):208-30. View

13.

Bruce M . Depression and disability in late life: directions for future research. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2001; 9(2):102-12. View

14.

Bruce M, Seeman T, Merrill S, Blazer D . The impact of depressive symptomatology on physical disability: MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging. Am J Public Health. 1994; 84(11):1796-9. PMC: 1615223. DOI: 10.2105/ajph.84.11.1796. View

15.

Aneshensel C, Frerichs R, Huba G . Depression and physical illness: a multiwave, nonrecursive causal model. J Health Soc Behav. 1984; 25(4):350-71. View

16.

de Leon C, Beckett L, Field T, Glynn R, Evans D . Six-year effect of depressive symptoms on the course of physical disability in community-living older adults. Arch Intern Med. 2000; 160(20):3074-80. DOI: 10.1001/archinte.160.20.3074. View

17.

Lawton M, Brody E . Assessment of older people: self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. Gerontologist. 1969; 9(3):179-86. View

18.

Armenian H, Pratt L, Gallo J, Eaton W . Psychopathology as a predictor of disability: a population-based follow-up study in Baltimore, Maryland. Am J Epidemiol. 1998; 148(3):269-75. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009635. View

19.

Ormel J, Rijsdijk F, Sullivan M, van Sonderen E, Kempen G . Temporal and reciprocal relationship between IADL/ADL disability and depressive symptoms in late life. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2002; 57(4):P338-47. DOI: 10.1093/geronb/57.4.p338. View

20.

Geerlings S, Beekman A, Deeg D, Twisk J, van Tilburg W . The longitudinal effect of depression on functional limitations and disability in older adults: an eight-wave prospective community-based study. Psychol Med. 2001; 31(8):1361-71. DOI: 10.1017/s0033291701004639. View