Association between housing environment and depressive symptoms among older people: a multidimensional assessment

• Published in: BMC geriatrics Vol. 21; no. 1; p. 259
• Main Authors: Chen, Yuan, Cui, Ping Yu, Pan, Yi Yang, Li, Ya Xing, Waili, Nuremaguli, Li, Ying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 17.04.2021; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Behavior; China - epidemiology; Chronic illnesses; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Community health care; Cross-Sectional Studies; Cross-sectional study; Cumulative logistic regression analysis; Depression - diagnosis; Depression - epidemiology; Depression in old age; Depressive symptoms; Design; Education; Environmental aspects; Female; Geriatric Assessment; Geriatrics; Houses; Housing; Housing and health; Housing environment; Humans; Living arrangements; Male; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mental health; Multidimensional assessment; Older people; Outdoor air quality; Population studies; Psychological aspects; Psychology; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Risk factors; Social interactions; Surveys and Questionnaires; Validity; Womens health; China; Depressive symptoms; Cross-sectional study; Cumulative logistic regression analysis; Multidimensional assessment; Housing environment
• ISSN: 1471-2318; 1471-2318
• DOI: 10.1186/s12877-021-02207-9

Depression is a common mental disorder among older people. This study aimed to assess the association between housing environment factors and depressive symptoms among older people using a multidimensional assessment method. The study uses a population-based cross-sectional design. A total of 950 participants aged ≥ 60 years were selected using a complex multistage sampling design from 22 locations in China. All data were collected using questionnaires by face-to-face interviews. A total of 938 participants were included in the analysis, and 17.1% of males and 23.1% of females were identified as having depressive symptoms. The depressive symptoms were assessed using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale. The housing environment was assessed on the basis of four dimensions: physical, social, psychological, and cognition and physical function. Cumulative logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between housing environment and depressive symptoms. The Cochran-Armitage trend test showed that the depressive symptom scores were linearly negatively associated with self-assessed housing environment, living arrangement, life satisfaction, and other physical environment factors and linearly positively associated with cognitive and physical function scores. The results of cumulative logistic regression analysis showed that the housing environment was significantly associated with depressive symptoms. The participants' self-assessed housing environment was strongly associated with the levels of depressive symptom scores, and the odds ratio was 3.47 (95% CI, 1.14-10.82, P = 0.003). The housing environment was significantly associated with depressive symptoms. Our results suggest that multi-dimensional assessment in the housing environment may be an effective way to develop intervention strategies of depressive symptoms among older people.