The association between dietary patterns and depressive symptoms in older adults: longitudinal evidence from the Czech Republic

Purpose Late-life depression is more likely to be modified by external factors, such as diet. We aimed to longitudinally assess the relationship of three dietary scores with depressive symptoms in Czech older adults. Methods We used data on 3519 participants from the Czech part of the prospective Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors In Eastern Europe cohort. Participants reported their depressive symptoms using the Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale. Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI), Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), and Eastern European Diet Score (EEDS), were calculated from a Food Frequency Questionnaire collected at baseline. Growth curve model was used to investigate the longitudinal relationship between adherence to various dietary scores and depressive symptoms. Results At baseline, women with high adherence to any of the three dietary scores had significantly lower depressive symptoms compared with those with low adherence (HDI: B=-0.65, 95\% CI [-1.18; -0.12], MDS: -0.56 [-1.01; -0.10], EEDS: -0.88 [-1.37; -0.39]). In terms of longitudinal trajectories among women, depressive symptoms increased over time with similar slopes across low, medium and high adherence groups for HDI and MDS. However, for EEDS, high and medium adherence was associated with steeper slopes compared to low adherence. Depressive symptoms were not consistently associated with dietary patterns in men. Conclusion Our results suggest a relationship between adherence to healthy dietary patterns and lower depressive symptoms in Czech older women, while there was little evidence on an association in men. The Eastern European diet and its health impacts should be further evaluated.