Association Between Activities of Daily Living Disability and Depression Symptoms of Middle-aged and Older Chinese Adults and Their Spouses: A Community Based Study

Background: Little is known about the impact of activities of daily living (ADL) disability on personal and spouse depression symptoms among Chinese.

Methods: We used data from the baseline and 2013 follow-up surveys of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative survey in 17,708 adults aged 45 years and older, to evaluate cross-sectional and prospective association between ADL disability and depression symptoms of subjects and their spouses. The derived basic ADL scale (BADL) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale short form were utilized to assess ADL disability and depressive symptoms, respectively. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI), adjusting for depression risk factors and taking into account the complex survey design and response rate.

Results: There were 15,890 subjects included in the study. Prevalence of baseline depression symptoms was 29.5% (95%CI 27.9-31.1%), 58.0% (95%CI 54.5-61.4%) and 73.6% (95%CI 70.4-76.8%) in subjects with BADL scores of 0, 1 and ≥2, respectively, and 27.0% (95%CI 25.3-28.7%), 34.2% (95%CI 30.0-38.4%) and 43.8% (95%CI 39.1-48.5%) in subjects without ADL disability while having spouses with BADL scores of 0, 1 and ≥2, respectively. Prospectively, BADL score ≥2 was associated with higher risk of depression symptoms of subjects (OR 1.63, 95% CI 1.03-2.57) and their spouses (OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.01-2.22).

Limitations: Bias might be introduced because of observational study design, and findings may not be generalizable to younger population.

Conclusions: ADL disability might have potential to increase risk of depression symptoms of middle-aged and older Chinese adults and their spouses.