Mental distress and incident functional disability among a rural ageing population in South Africa

Abstract

Objectives The aim of the study was to investigate the association between mental symptoms and incident functional disability among middle‐age and older adults in South Africa. Methods Longitudinal data from two consecutive population surveys (2014/2015–2018/2019) in Agincourt, South Africa, were analysed. Results In total, 298 of 3813 participants without functional disability in wave 1 (8.8%) had functional disability in wave 2. The prevalence of baseline functional disability was 9.1%. In the fully adjusted models for people without functional disability at baseline, depressive symptoms (AOR: 1.74, 95% CI: 1.08–2.80) among men and lower life satisfaction among men (AOR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.80–0.93) and among women (AOR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.83–0.98) increased the odds of incident functional disability. Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, poor sleep quality, restless sleep, and loneliness were not significantly associated with incident functional disability. Conclusions Depressive symptoms among men and lower life satisfaction among both sexes were independently associated with incident functional disability in ageing rural South Africans.