The Co-Occurrence Of Frailty (Accumulation Of Functional Deficits) And Depressive Symptoms, And Its Effect On Mortality In Older Adults: A Longitudinal Study

Purpose: The co-occurrence of frailty and depression in late life, the possibility for symptom reversal, their reciprocal relationship, and the effects on mortality have rarely been investigated. We aimed to examine the co-occurrence of frailty and depressive symptoms in late life, the possibility for symptom reversal, their reciprocal relationship, and the effects on mortality using all the information from a longitudinal study.

Patients And Methods: We used the Taiwan Longitudinal Study of Aging (TLSA) for this study. TLSA was initiated in 1989 and followed periodically. We included participants from 1989 to 2007, who had data on frailty and depressive symptoms. Frailty was assessed by accumulation of functional deficits in 6 dimensions including disease status, sensory dysfunction, balance, functional limitations, health risk behaviors, and life satisfaction. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). A multistate model with interval censoring was used to examine the transition between states of frailty with or without depressive symptoms, and finally to death. A mixed model was used to examine the relationships between frailty and depressive symptoms.

Results: The coexistence of frailty and depressive symptoms was associated with higher mortality. Individuals with depressive symptom had a lower probability of reversal to a better state. Previous depression score predicted current frailty, but the coefficient was smaller than that of previous frailty. Previous frailty predicted current depression score, and the coefficient was stronger than that of previous depression.

Conclusion: Depressive symptoms increased the mortality and decreased the probability of reversal in the frail older adults.