Key result
Depressive symptoms were associated with an increased risk of one-year hospitalization (RR 1.05; 95% CI 1.01-1.09; p=0.016), but not with mortality in older adults.
Why the study?
Are depressive symptoms associated with increased hospitalization and mortality in a general older population?
Cohort (n=344)
No
Are depressive symptoms associated with increased hospitalization and mortality in a general older population?
Relative Risk: 1.05 (95% CI 1.01–1.09)
p-value: p=0.016
Depressive symptoms in the elderly are associated with an increased risk of hospitalization but not mortality, representing a potentially reversible determinant of healthcare utilization.
Depressive symptoms may warrant attention to lower hospitalization risk in older adults; leaves open causality and mortality effects.
OBJECTIVES: Subjects with depression might request more healthcare services. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of depressive symptoms with hospitalization and mortality rates in a general unselected older population. METHODS: We assessed the association of the 30-items Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) score with one-year hospitalization and mortality in all 344 subjects aged 75+ living in Tuscania (Italy). This population had been enrolled in a national study of the genetic determinants of health status. Analyses were conducted using continuous, as well as categorical GDS score levels. RESULTS: After adjusting for potential confounders, depressive symptoms were associated in Cox regression modelling with hospitalization (relative risk, RR = 1.05; 95% confidence interval, CI = 1.01-1.09; p = 0.016), but not with mortality (RR = 1.06; 95% CI = 0.96-1.16; p = 0.246). Increasing GDS score levels were associated with increasing risk of hospitalization (p for trend = 0.033). Up to 39% of hospitalizations might be attributed to depression. CONCLUSION: Depressive symptoms are not associated with increased mortality rates in general older populations. However, depressive symptoms represent a potentially reversible determinant of increased hospitalization rates in these subjects, independent of the presence and severity of other medical conditions.
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Laudisio et al. (2010) conducted a cohort in Depressive symptoms (n=344). Depressive symptoms vs. Lower depressive symptom scores was evaluated on One-year hospitalization (RR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01-1.09, p=0.016). Depressive symptoms were associated with an increased risk of one-year hospitalization (RR 1.05; 95% CI 1.01-1.09; p=0.016), but not with mortality in older adults.
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