The prevalence and correlates of depression and anxiety symptoms among older adults in Shenzhen, China

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of depression and
anxiety symptoms among older adults in an urban district in China, as well
as their associated factors. Participants: A total of 5,372
community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years or older were initially
recruited. Ultimately, 5,331 participants met the inclusion criteria and
were included in this study. Methods: Participants completed a
sociodemographic questionnaire, along with assessments including the
Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Scale-7, UCLA
Loneliness Simplification Scale, Insomnia Severity Index Scale, Community
Dementia Brief Screening Scale, and the 8-item Dementia Screening
Questionnaire. Statistical analyses included the Shapiro‒Wilk test,
independent t-test, Wilcoxon rank test, c2 test, and univariate and
multivariate linear regression analysis. Results: The prevalence of
depression and anxiety symptoms among older adults in Shenzhen communities
was 10.4% and 11.3%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, age (B=-0.01,
P<0.05), relatively poor health status in the past year (B=1.00,
P<0.01), poor health status in the past year (B=2.40,
P<0.01), ISI score (B=0.21, P<0.01), AD8 score (B=0.22,
P<0.01), ULS score (B=0.24, P<0.01) were significantly
associated with the severity of depression symptom, Compared to their
respective reference categories, relatively poor health status in the past
year (B=0.50, P<0.01), poor health status in the past year (B=1.32,
P<0.01), ISI score (B=0.23, P<0.01), sleep duration (B=0.05,
P<0.01), AD8 score (B=0.21, P<0.01), CSID score (B=0.13,
P<0.01), ULS score (B=0.22, P<0.01) were significantly
associated with the severity of anxiety symptom. Conclusions: We observed
a high prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms among older adults in
this study. The existing welfare system and infrastructure should remain
and targeted mental health programs addressing the identified risk factors
should be proposed.