Association between Lower-Body Strength, Health-Related Quality of Life, Depression Status and BMI in the Elderly Women with Depression

Abstract

Introduction: Depression is currently the most prevalent mental illness in the world. It is a very frequent geriatric syndrome that causes a high degree of disability and increases mortality in the elderly population. This mental disorder is a social and public health problem that alters the quality of life (Qol) of the patient. Physical strength work has been reported to improve the clinical picture of people with depression. Objective. To determine the relationship between lower body strength, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), depression status and body mass index (BMI) in older women with depression. Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study with 685 elder women with depression. Results: A mild direct correlation (Rho = −0.29; p ≤ 0.001) between stand-ip test and EQ-5D-3L test was shown. There is a mild inverse correlation between stand-up test and six of fifteen items of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) (Rho item 1 = −0.24; p ≤ 0.001; item 4 = 0.11; p ≤ 0.001; item 5 = −0.20; p ≤ 0.001; item 7 = −0.15; p ≤ 0.001; item 11 = −0.19; p ≤ 0.001; item 13 = −0.21; p ≤ 0.001). Between Stand-Up test and BMI, the correlation is weak inverse (Rho = −0.20; p ≤ 0.001). Conclusions: There is a significant association of lower body strength with HRQoL, and BMI, as well as some variables of depression status in elder women with depression. Better scores in the stand-up test lead to an improvement in HRQoL and BMI. Therefore, stand-up test could be a complementary tool in public health for improve HRQoL in the elderly women with depression.

Relationship between physical activity and depressive symptoms in older Korean adults: moderation analysis of muscular strength

“…These findings demonstrate the importance of measuring both upper-body muscle strength and LBMS in assessing the risk for depression. The work of Galán-Arroyo et al [ 30 ] examines the association between the 30 s sit-to-stand test and the geriatric depression scale (GDS) in 685 elderly women with depression and shows an inverse relationship between LBMS and six of 15 items on the GDS. Likewise, upper-body muscle strength is also shown to be associated with depression in older adults [ 31 – 33 ].…”

Empirical Analysis of Population Urbanization and Residents’ Life Satisfaction—Based on 2017 CGSS

“…Life satisfaction is not only the preferred index to describe happiness but also an important index to describe the quality of life [6], which can evaluate the individuals' life status at that period [7]. With the emergence of the global aging problem, sociological research has focused on the elder, paying closer attention to their demographic characteristics [8], physical health status [9], human capital [10], family capital [11], living environment [12] and social care [13] for the elderly. Some current research results show that with the increase in age, individual life satisfaction will significantly decrease [14], especially when there is economic tension in old age [15].…”