The cross-interaction between global and age-comparative self-rated health on depressive symptoms–considering both the individual and combined effects. Issue 1 (December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Shin, Jaeyong; Park, Eun-Cheol; Lee, Sang; Choi, Young; Kim, Jae-Hyun; Kim, Tae
• Is Part Of: BMC psychiatry. Volume 16:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 11
• Publication Date: 2016-12
• Subjects: Self-rated health -- Combined -- Age comparative -- Depression -- Old aged; Psychiatry -- Periodicals; 616.89005
• DOI: 10.1186/s12888-016-1098-9
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1471-244X

Abstract

Abstract Background Numerous studies suggesting the relation between self-rated health (SRH) and depression have been reported using different measures. Therefore, we attempted to determine the difference in a depressive scale based on the different ways of measuring health between global SRH (SRH-global) and age-comparative SRH (SRH-age). Then, the combined effect of SRH-global and SRH-age on depressive symptoms was further investigated. Methods Data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA) from 2008 to 2012 were analyzed. We divided the SRH-global and SRH-age into three levels—high, middle, and low—and combined each into nine new categories (SRH-combi). The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-10 Korean edition was used as the dependent variable. Results A total of 8621 participant were enrolled at baseline. Individuals with lower SRHs-age compared to SRH-global tended to be more vulnerable to depressive symptoms. Low SRH-global with low (b = 0.654, p < 0.001) and middle SRH-age (b = 0.210, p = 0.003) showed association with higher CESD scores. Participants with high SRH-global × low SRH-age also had higher scores (b = 0.536, p < 0.001) compared to the "middle SRH-global × middle SRH-age" reference group. In contrast, among the middle (b = −0.696, p < 0.001) and high SRH-global (b = −0.545, p < 0.001) groups, participants with superior SRH-age had statistically lower CESD scores than the reference group. Conclusions Although a sole general SRH has historically been widely used, it has been suggested that use of both general and age-comparative SRH would be more powerful and easy when we consider analyzing depression in old age.