Six-Year Effect of Depressive Symptoms on the Course of Physical Disability in Community-Living Older Adults

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Abstract
IT IS generally accepted that persons who are in poor physical health are more likely to experience depression.1-4 The converse, whether depression leads to greater risk of physical disability, is less clear and requires careful longitudinal investigation to distinguish depression that precedes physical disability from depression that may be consequent to the disability. The results of several prospective studies5-17 suggest that late-life depression of clinical significance (major depression, minor depression, or depressive syndromes) may affect subsequent physical health or impede recovery from physical disability. Mild depressive symptoms are much more common than more severe depression among persons of all ages,18,19 but their importance for changes in physical health and disability remains unclear.20,21 This issue is especially relevant to the health of older persons, who are at the highest risk of disability22 and who experience mild depressive symptoms the most frequently.6 This study examined whether mild depressive symptoms predicted subsequent disability and recovery from disability during a 6-year period in a defined population of older persons (those aged ≥65 years).