Association of individual and area level socioeconomic status with depressive symptoms for older adults—evidence from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study / 中华健康管理学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To analyze the impact of individual and regional level socioeconomic characteristics on the mental health of middle-aged and older adults based on data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.Methods:This study was a cohort study. Using the data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, subjects without depression were screened in the baseline survey, the depression status of the selected subjects was tracked and observed for seven years. Descriptive statistical analysis, multivariate logistic analysis, joint analysis were used to analyze the influence of factors such as gender, personal annual income, education level, urban and rural areas, and eastern, central, and western regions on the risk of depression among middle-aged and elderly people.Results:The 7-year follow-up results showed that the prevalence of depression symptoms in the study subjects was 42.24%; compared with men, women′s risk of developing depression symptoms was significantly increased ( OR=1.782); compared with junior college education and above, middle school (including technical secondary school), primary and lower education levels had a significantly increased risk of developing depression symptoms ( OR=1.476, 2.134); compared with annual income of more than 10 000 yuan, subjects with an annual income of 10 000 yuan or below had significantly increased risk of developing depression symptoms ( OR=1.251). At the same time, compared with the urban area, the risk of developing depression symptoms was significantly increased in the rural areas ( OR=1.389). Compared with the eastern area, the risk of developing depression symptoms was significantly higher in the central and western areas ( OR=1.342, 1.730). The joint analysis results showed that compared with high-income and high-education men, low-income low-education women, high-income low-education women, low-income middle-education women, and high-income middle-education women were at the top four odd ratios for developing depression symptoms ( OR=5.050, 3.662, 3.047, 2.641); compared with men in eastern cities, rural women in the west, rural women in the middle, women in the western cities, and rural women in the east ranked the first four odd ratios for developing depression symptoms ( OR=4.286, 3.216, 2.642, 2.158). Conclusion:Socioeconomic factors at the individual and regional levels have a significant impact on the risk of developing depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older adults, and mental health management of middle-aged and older adults with low socioeconomic status should be strengthened.