Regular Research ArticleAre Depression and Frailty Overlapping Syndromes in Mid- and Late-life? A Latent Variable Analysis
Section snippets
Sample
Data come from the Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) Study, a longitudinal population-based survey of adults that began in 1981 as part of a multisite study investigating prevalence of mental illness in the United States. Details concerning data collection procedures have been described previously.12, 13 The Baltimore ECA cohort was reinterviewed in 1982, 1993–1996, and 2004–2005. This analysis is limited to data collected during the fourth follow-up in 2004–2005, in which interviews
Results
Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the sample stratified by lifetime MD status. Consistent with previous research, individuals who met criteria for MD were younger and more likely to be women. The symptoms of frailty were fairly common (prevalence 8.5%–27%), and with the exception of exhaustion, MD was not significantly associated with indicators of frailty.
Table 2 shows the model fit statistics and class proportion estimates for the series of confirmatory LCA models described
Discussion
This study empirically evaluated the construct overlap between two common syndromes in later life: depression and frailty. The primary finding is that the operational criteria of these constructs identify distinct, but highly overlapping, subpopulations. The overlap between these constructs is substantial as suggested by the κl and indicates that these syndromes should be considered jointly in studies aimed at identifying predictors and consequences of health and disability in later life.
This
References (29)
Depression in the elderly
Lancet
(2005)- et al.
Understanding the heterogeneity of depression through the triad of symptoms, course and risk factors: a longitudinal, population-based study
J Affect Disord
(2000) - et al.
Depressive symptoms and functional transitions over time in older persons
Am J Geriatr Psychiatr
(2011) - et al.
Comparing models of frailty: the Health and Retirement Study
J Am Geriatr Soc
(2009) - et al.
Frailty in older adults: evidence for a phenotype
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci
(2001) - et al.
Antecedents of frailty over three decades in an older cohort
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci
(1998) - et al.
A comparison of two approaches to measuring frailty in elderly people
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci
(2007) - et al.
Depression without sadness: alternative presentations of depression in late life
Am Fam Physician
(1999) Depression and frailty: the need for multidisciplinary research
Am J Geriatr Psychiatry
(2004)- et al.
Untangling the concepts of disability, frailty, and comorbidity: implications for improved targeting and care
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci
(2004)
Phenotype of frailty: characterization in the Women's Health and Aging studies
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci
Shared risk factors for falls, incontinence, and functional dependence. Unifying the approach to geriatric syndromes
JAMA
A novel aging phenotype of slow gait, impaired executive function, and depressive symptoms: relationship to blood pressure and other cardiovascular risks
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci
Epidemiologic Field Methods in Psychiatry: The NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program
Cited by (88)
Association between excess mortality in depressive status and frailty among older adults: A population-based Kyoto-Kameoka prospective cohort study
2023, Archives of Gerontology and GeriatricsFrailty, depression risk and 10-year hospitalization in older adults. The FRADEA study
2022, Geriatric NursingCitation Excerpt :Frailty and depression are recognized as independent entities,1,2 with a high prevalence in older adults, between 12% and 24% for frailty3 and between 10% and 15% for depression.4
Discernment of mediator and outcome measurement in the PACE trial
2021, Journal of Psychosomatic ResearchGroundhog Day: research without old data and old references
2022, Psychological Medicine
Supplemental digital content is available for this article in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal’s Web site (www.ajgponline.org).