Ito NT, Oliveira D, Rodrigues FMS, Castro-Costa E, Lima-Costa MF, Ferri CP. Depressive symptoms and self-rated health among Brazilian older adults: baseline data from the ELSI-Brazil study.
Braz J Psychiatry 2023;
46:e20233331. [PMID:
37995196 DOI:
10.47626/1516-4446-2023-3331]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether having a higher number of depressive symptoms is associated with negative self-rated health (SRH) even in the absence of illness.
METHODS
This is a secondary analysis of baseline data from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil), conducted in 2015-2016, using a national sample of 9,412 people aged 50 or over. SRH was dichotomized into poor or very poor and very good or excellent, good, or average. Depressive symptoms were assessed through the eight-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D8). Sociodemographic variables, information about unhealthy behaviors, and the number of chronic conditions were also analyzed.
RESULTS
Having depressive symptoms was strongly associated with poor or very poor SRH both in the unadjusted and adjusted analyses. The magnitude of the association was reduced when the number of chronic illnesses was included in the multivariate analysis, along with the other sociodemographic variables and unhealthy behaviors (OR 1.35, 95%CI 1.31-1.39).
CONCLUSION
Having depressive symptoms may contribute towards having a poorer perception of health, even in the absence of health conditions. SRH is a multidimensional construct that can accurately reflect a person's state of general mental health.
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