Predictive Effect of Frailty and Quality of Life on Geriatric Depression in an Urban Community: A Cross-Sectional Study in Primary Health Care

Background: Geriatric depression is a prevalent and multifactorial condition that can be influenced by aspects of frailty and quality of life (QoL) in older adults. In Brazil, there is a lack of studies that explore these factors in an integrated manner within the context of Primary Health Care (PHC). Objective: To analyze the predictive effect of frailty and QoL aspects on the presence of depression among community-dwelling older adults assisted in PHC in urban areas of low population density. Method: A cross-sectional, quantitative study involving 323 older adults registered in PHC units from two Brazilian municipalities. The instruments used were the Edmonton Frail Scale, the Short Form Health Survey, and the Geriatric Depression Scale. Analyses included association tests, Spearman’s correlation, and univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression. Results: There was a strong negative correlation between depression and the physical and mental health domains of QoL, particularly “mental health” (r = -0.53/ p