The inter-relationship between depressed mood, functional decline and disability over a 10-year observational period within the Longitudinal Urban Cohort Ageing Study (LUCAS)

• Published in: Journal of epidemiology and community health (1979) 2021-05, Vol.75 (5), p.450-457
• Main Authors: Dapp, Ulrike, Minder, Christoph E, Golgert, Stefan, Klugmann, Björn, Neumann, Lilli, von Renteln-Kruse, Wolfgang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Age; Aging; Cohort analysis; Disability; Frailty; Geriatrics; Longitudinal studies; Mental depression; Mental health; Mood; Mortality; Observational studies; Older people; Original Research; Well being
• ISSN: 0143-005X; 1470-2738
• DOI: 10.1136/jech-2020-214168

BackgroundThe WHO defines ‘healthy ageing’ as ‘the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability’. Late-life depression and frailty compromise well-being and independence of older people. To date, there exists little research on the interaction of the dynamic processes of frailty and depression and only a few studies were longitudinal. Conclusions about the direction of effects remained uncertain.MethodsData were obtained from each of the last six biyearly waves (2007–2017) of the Longitudinal Urban Cohort Ageing Study (LUCAS) in Hamburg, Germany, a prospective observational cohort study of manifold aspects of ageing. Screening of predictor and event variables: depressed mood: one question from the 5-item Mental Health Inventory Screening Test; frailty: LUCAS Functional Ability Index, status ‘frail’; disability: one question on need for human help with basic activities of daily living. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox’s proportional hazards regression were used for time-to-event analyses with shifting baseline.ResultsSample size in 2007 was 2012, average age 76.2 years; ±6.5. Main results were as follows: (1) depression significantly increased the hazard of subsequent frailty (HR=1.581; 95% CI 1.257 to 1.988; p