Perceived characteristics of the neighborhood and depressive symptoms in community-dwelling older adults: a cross-section study

Abstract

The high prevalence of depressive symptoms in older adults highlights the importance of investigating risk factors that may contribute to this condition, especially those that are subject to effective interventions, such as the neighborhood environment. However, the association between perceived characteristics of the environment and presence of depressive symptoms in Brazilian older adults, as well as in those who attend Primary Health Care (PHC) units is not yet fully established. This study aimed to verify the association between the perception of the neighborhood and presence of depressive symptoms in community-dwelling older adults. This is a cross-sectional, household-based study with a probabilistic sample. A total of 293 community-dwelling older adults (57.3% women; 54.7% aged 60-69 years) and registered in the municipal Primary Health Care System of Balneário Arroio do Silva/SC were included. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the perception of the environment was obtained using the adapted instrument Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS). Associations were tested by multivariate logistic regression. Significant negative associations were observed between the presence of food establishments (OR: 0.52; 95%CI: 0.28-0.98), health clinics and community centers (OR: 0.52; 95%CI: 0.28-0.96), outdoor gyms (OR: 0.38; 95%CI: 0.20-0.72), fitness centers and/or clubs (OR: 0.42; 95%CI: 0.19-0.89), well-maintained sidewalks (OR: 0.37; 95%CI: 0.19-0.71), pedestrian signals (OR: 0.39; 95%CI: 0.18-0.84), and neighborhood safety for walking during the day (OR: 0.35; 95%CI: 0.16-0.76) and night (OR: 0.40; 95%CI: 0.19-0.83) and the presence of depressive symptoms. It was concluded that there is inverse associations between better perceived characteristics of the environment and the presence of depressive symptoms in community-dwelling older adults, demonstrating the importance of promoting strategies to improve the neighborhood infrastructure and prevent depressive symptoms in this population.