Hospitalization’s association with depression in adults over 50 years old: does living arrangement matter? Findings from the Health and Retirement Study

Abstract

Objectives

To examine how living arrangements are associated with depressive symptoms in late middle-life and older adults following hospitalization within the last two years.

Design

We used the 2016 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative survey of adults over 50 years old living in the United States.

Methods

The dependent variable was whether HRS participants screened positive for having depressive symptoms. The primary independent variable was self-reported hospitalization in the prior two years. We stratified bivariate analyses and multivariate logistic regressions by living arrangement to examine hospitalizations’ association with depressive symptoms.

Results

Depressive symptoms were less prevalent among participants who were married or partnered and living with a partner (14.0%) compared to those who were not married or partnered and were living with others (31.7%) and were not married or partnered and were living alone (27.8%). In multivariate analyses stratified by living arrangement, however, hospitalization was associated with depressive symptoms for those married or partnered and living with a partner (OR = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.14–1.69) but not for those who were not married and living with other(s) (OR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.65–1.18) and not married or partnered and living alone (OR = 1.06, 95% CI: 0.82–1.36).

Conclusions

Late middle-life and older adults residing with spouses or cohabitating appear at risk for having depressive symptoms following a hospitalization. A better understanding of how relationships and living arrangements may affect depression risk in the context of an acute medical illness is needed to identify points of intervention.

Keywords:

• Depression
• post-acute care
• disability
• caregiving
• living arrangement

Acknowledgements

The funders had no role in our article’s design, data analysis, the decision to publish, or manuscript preparation. The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (grant number NIA U01AG009740) and is conducted by the University of Michigan. The HRS dataset is publicly available at https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/. Additionally, AS was supported by the National Institute on Aging [grant number K23AG058757], and KVO was also supported by the National Institute on Aging [grant number P30AG064103].