Abstract
Objectives
Physical symptoms are known to be associated with late life depression both cross‐sectionally and over time. We attempted to determine if self‐reported shortness of breath (SoB) is associated with depressive symptoms at long‐term (3‐year) follow‐up in a community sample of older (65+) adults.
Methods
A sample of 2926 elderly subjects from the Duke Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (EPESE) were evaluated at baseline and at 3‐year follow‐up. Depressive symptoms were assessed by a modified version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies—Depression Scale (CES‐D) and SoB was assessed by a three‐item scale administered at baseline. The analyses were controlled for factors known to be associated with depressive symptoms and SoB. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed.
Results
Eighty‐three percent of subjects who experienced SoB survived for three years. Within the analysis sample of those participating at follow‐up, 36 percent experienced SoB at baseline. In biavriate analyses, SoB, older age, female sex, history of a heart attack, higher body mass index (BMI), depressive symptoms at baseline, cognitive impairment, and functional impairment were associated with follow‐up depressive symptoms. When controlled variables were included in a linear regression model, SoB was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms at follow‐up (p < 0.0001) as well as baseline depressive symptoms, sex, BMI, and functional status. No two‐way interaction terms with SoB were significant.
Conclusions
SoB is a significant predictor of depressive symptoms at 3‐year follow‐up. Given that SoB is a symptom that is responsive to therapeutic intervention, active intervention to relieve the symptom when identified could reduce the incidence of depressive symptoms. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.