Key result
Multimorbidity is linked to more frequent and severe depressive syndromes in elderly individuals.
Why the study?
Depression and multimorbidity are common in the elderly, and assessing depression may be difficult due to overlapping depressive and somatic symptoms causing potential confounding.
Cross-Sectional (n=1,659)
Multimorbidity is associated with higher depression severity scores, particularly in somatic items, potentially confounding depression prevalence rates in the elderly.
May warrant depression screening in multimorbid elderly; hypothesis-generating for causality and bidirectional links.
BACKGROUND: Depression and multimorbidity are common in the elderly. Assessing depression might be difficult because of the overlap of depressive and somatic symptoms, possibly leading to confounded results. METHODS: This study investigates the frequency of depression, multimorbidity and their association, the potential impact of multimorbidity on the assessment of depression by the Patient Health Questionnaire, and whether using a cut point might cause misleading results in the elderly German population (60-85 years, n= 1659). RESULTS: Depressive syndromes are significantly more frequent in multimorbid respondents. Multimorbidity is associated with higher item scores, especially in the somatic items, and multimorbid respondents show higher depression severity levels in comparison to non-multimorbid persons. CONCLUSION: There are associations between multimorbidity and depressive symptoms, therefore potentially confounding prevalence rates. As such, causal pathways of these associations should be studied under a longitudinal perspective in future studies.
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Spangenberg et al. (2011) conducted a cross-sectional in Depression and multimorbidity (n=1,659). Multimorbidity vs. Non-multimorbid persons was evaluated on Frequency of depression and depression severity levels. Multimorbidity was associated with significantly more frequent depressive syndromes and higher depression severity levels compared to non-multimorbid elderly individuals.
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