Why the study?
Is there a reciprocal relationship between depressive symptoms and health service use (physician visits and hospitalization) among community-dwelling older adults?
Population
973 community-dwelling older adults in the Singapore Longitudinal Aging Studies (SLAS)
Comparison
Baseline depressive symptoms or high health… vs No baseline depressive symptoms or lower health…
Design
Cohort
Follow-up
one year
Key result
Baseline depressive symptoms were associated with increased subsequent physician visits (RR 1.34; 95% CI 1.05-1.70), while frequent visits and hospitalization strongly predicted subsequent depression.
Authors
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Bidirectional depression-service use link in older adults is hypothesis-generating; leaves open whether interventions targeting one reduce the other.
Cohort (n=973)
Is there a reciprocal relationship between depressive symptoms and health service use (physician visits and hospitalization) among community-dwelling older adults?
Effect estimate: RR 1.34 (95% CI 1.05-1.70)
Depressive symptoms and health service use have a reciprocal relationship in older adults, suggesting post-hospitalization interventions to treat depression may optimize healthcare utilization.
Feng et al. (2009) conducted a cohort in Depressive symptoms (n=973). Depressive symptoms vs. No depressive symptoms was evaluated on Subsequent physician visits (RR 1.34, 95% CI 1.05-1.70). Baseline depressive symptoms were associated with increased subsequent physician visits (RR 1.34; 95% CI 1.05-1.70), while frequent visits and hospitalization strongly predicted subsequent depression.