Chronic conditions and incident and persistent depressive symptoms among ageing adults in rural South Africa

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to assess associations between chronic diseases and incident and persistent depressive symptoms (DSs) in a cohort study of ageing adults in South Africa. Participants in the baseline survey (in 2014/2015) were 5,059 persons (≥40 years) and at follow-up 4,176 (in 2018/2019). DSs were measured with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. Logistic regression was used to estimate the associations between chronic conditions and incident and persistent DS. The prevalence of DS at baseline was 15.5%, incident DS (without DS and/or PTSD at baseline) was 25.1% and persistent DS (DS at both baseline and follow-up) was 4.8%. In unadjusted logistic regression analysis, diabetes had higher odds of incident DS. Participants with baseline heart attack/stroke/angina, dyslipidemia, tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis, kidney disease and three or more chronic conditions had a higher probability of persistent DS. In conclusion, of the eight chronic conditions evaluated, only diabetes (in unadjusted analysis) was associated with incident DS, and five chronic conditions (heart attack/stroke/angina, dyslipidaemia, tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis and kidney disease) and three or more chronic conditions were associated with persistent DS.

KEYWORDS:

• Depressive symptoms
• chronic diseases
• cohort study
• Rural South Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

HAALSI (Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa) is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (grant number 1P01AG041710-01A1) and is conducted by the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies in partnership with Witwatersrand University. The Agincourt HDSS was supported by the Wellcome Trust UK, (058893/Z/99/A, 069683/Z/02/Z, 085477/Z/08/Z and085477/B/08/Z), the University of the Witwatersrand and South African Medical Research Council.