The Association of Social Health, Physical Activity with Depression among the Elderly

PURPOSE: Depression has become a widespread public health problem worldwide and is the third leading cause of disability in the world. The purpose of this study is to exame the association social health, physical activity with depression in the elderly. METHODS: This sdudy was conducted in 5 porvinces in China and 7,536 participants (male 3,309, female 4,227), age (70.02 ± 7.27), eventually completed this survey during 2017-2019. Logistic regression and random forest model were employed to analyze the data with multiple mediators and contrast mediation effects. RESULTS: Logic regression model exposed that personal attributes (OR = 0.988, p = 0.012), male(OR = 0.675, p < 0.001), marital status (OR = 0.660, p < 0.001) were significantly and negatively associated with depression; compared with income ≤¥999 per month, income ¥3000-4999 per month (OR = 0.707, p = 0.003) and income ¥5000 (OR = 0.414, p < 0.001) were significantly and negatively associated with depression in older adults. Physical activities 5 times /week (OR = 0.626, p = p < 0.001) and 60 minutes (OR = 0.713, p = 0.007) were significantly and negatively associated with depression when compared to that of <1 time/week and < 15 minutes/time, respectively. In social health, frequency of talking to children (OR = 0.800, p < 0.001), friends (OR = 0.922, p = 0.007), and hobbies times (OR = 0.783, p < 0.001) were significantly and negatively associated with depression; distance to transportation (OR = 0.915, p = 0.006) and medical facilities (OR = 0.836, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with depression in older adults. In addition, social support (OR = 1.206, p = 0.004), group activities (OR = 1.119, p < 0.001) and landscape (OR = 1.065, p = 0.026) were significantly and positively associated with depression in older adults. The random forest analysis showed that the five indicators with the highest degree affecting depression werehobbies time (0.115), frequency of talking with friends (0.106), children (0.098), physical activity/week (0.096), and physical activity/time (0.094). CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrated that social health and physical activity may be helpful for improving or preventing the depression of the elderly.