Lifestyle- and diet-related factors in late-life depression—a 5-year follow-up of elderly European men: the FINE study

✍ Scribed by Sinikka Bots; Marja Tijhuis; Simona Giampaoli; Daan Kromhout; Aulikki Nissinen

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 74 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/gps.1919

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Objective

Late‐life depression is one of the main health problems among elderly populations and a key element of healthy ageing. Causal relationships of lifestyle‐ and diet‐related factors in late‐life depression are unclear. This study investigates prospective associations of lifestyle‐ and diet‐related factors with development of categorically defined late‐life depression in a well‐documented population of elderly European men.

Subjects and methods

Altogether 526 not‐demented and not‐depressed European men aged 70–89 at baseline were included in the analyses. The association of lifestyle‐related and dietary factors with development of categorically defined depression (> = 48/80 on the Zung Self‐rating Depression Scale) was assessed in a follow‐up of 5 years.

Results

Eleven percent (n = 59) of the men developed depression during follow‐up. An independent association with development of depression was found for baseline depressive status [Odds Ratio (OR) 1.19, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.10–1.28, p < 0.001], a decline in serum total cholesterol level between study years (OR 1.76, 95%CI: 1.01–3.04, p = 0.045), physical activity (OR 0.97, 95%CI: 0.94–1.00, p = 0.022) and moderate alcohol intake (OR 0.35, 95%CI: 0.14–0.87, p = 0.023) but not for dietary factors.

Conclusions

This study of a well‐documented population of elderly European men confirms that physical activity and moderate alcohol consumption may protect against depression in the old‐old. Our results are the first to suggest that a decline in serum cholesterol level may predict development of late‐life depression. As the effects of age, medication and incipient cognitive decline could not be entirely ruled out; this finding must be interpreted with care. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.