The relationship between depressive mood and subjective health in centenarians and near-centenarians: a cross-sectional study from Korean centenarian cohort

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic, general health and social functioning, mental health, cognitive and physical functioning, and laboratory test results of centenarian and near-centenarian participants.

	Total (n = 94) Mean (SD)	Men (n = 17) Mean (SD)	Women (n = 77) Mean (SD)	p-Value
Sociodemographic characteristics
Age, years	97.9 (3.2)	97.8 (3.4)	98 (3.1)	0.880
Gender, female, n (%)	77 (81.9%)	–	–
Literacy, n (%)
Illiterate	49 (59.8%)	4 (23.5%)	45 (69.2%)	0.002*
Semiliterate	7 (8.5%)	2 (11.8%)	5 (7.7%)
Literate	26 (31.7%)	11 (64.7%)	15 (23.4%)
Living status, alone, n (%)	39 (41.5%)	7 (41.2%)	32 (41.6%)	1.000
Number of children	5.1 (1.9)	5.8 (1.8)	5 (1.9)	0.178
Family history of longevity, yes, n (%)	48 (55.2%)	7 (46.7%)	41 (56.9%)	0.572
General health and social functioning
Subjective health, good, n (%)	56 (59.6%)	12 (70.6%)	44 (57.1%)	0.415
Number of illnesses	1.1 (1.3)	0.9 (1)	1.1 (1.3)	0.473
Systolic blood pressure, mmHg	150.2 (21)	148.8 (25.8)	150.5 (19.9)	0.756
Diastolic blood pressure, mmHg	77.6 (13.8)	78.0 (17.4)	77.5 (12.9)	0.884
Pulse rate, bpm	77.7 (12.6)	71.0 (7.6)	79.3 (13.0)	0.014*
Daily total sleep time, h	8.6 (1.5)	8.0 (1.4)	8.7 (1.5)	0.162
Chewing difficulty, no, n (%)	44 (52.4%)	10 (66.7%)	34 (49.3%)	0.264
Hearing difficulty, no, n (%)	67 (76.1%)	13 (81.3%)	54 (75.0%)	0.752
Daily physical activity, 30 min or more, n (%)	47 (50.0%)	11 (64.7%)	36 (46.8%)	0.284
Frequency of social contact, high, n (%)	42 (44.7%)	8 (47.1%)	34 (44.2%)	1.000
Mental health
GDS	2.3 (2.9)	1.6 (2.3)	2.5 (3)	0.214
Cognitive and physical functioning
MMSE	13.8 (6.1)	16.8 (6.1)	13.0 (6.0)	0.025*
K-ADL	2.4 (2)	2.2 (2.4)	2.5 (2.4)	0.690
K-IADL	7.1 (3)	6.1 (3.3)	7.4 (2.8)	0.110
Hand grip strength, kg	5.2 (4.8)	9.5(4.3)	4.2 (4.3)	<0.001**
Gait speed, m/s	0.23 (0.08)	0.28 (0.08)	0.22 (0.08)	0.027*
Laboratory tests
Total cholesterol, mg/dl	168.4 (31.6)	168.4 (32.3)	168.4 (31.6)	0.998
HDL cholesterol, mg/dl	46.3 (11.4)	43.7(10.2)	46.9 (11.6)	0.312
Triglyceride, mg/dl	119.4 (62.7)	130.1(69.1)	116.9 (61.4)	0.451
Total protein, g/dl	6.3 (0.4)	6.3 (0.4)	6.3 (0.4)	0.839
Albumin, g/dl	3.7 (0.3)	3.8 (0.2)	3.7 (0.3)	0.216
BUN, mg/dl	17.9 (5.5)	17.2 (4.0)	18.0 (5.9)	0.590
Creatinine, mg/dl	1.1 (0.3)	1.3 (0.3)	1.0 (0.2)	<0.001**
AST, U/L	21.5 (6.8)	24.8 (5.7)	20.7 (6.8)	0.031*
ALT, U/L	8.5 (3.9)	10.5 (5.0)	8.0 (3.5)	0.028*
Total bilirubin, mg/dl	0.48 (0.24)	0.49 (0.2)	0.48 (0.25)	0.815
Direct bilirubin, mg/dl	0.18 (0.1)	0.20 (0.08)	0.18 (0.11)	0.440
CRP, mg/dl	0.20 (0.44)	0.21 (0.48)	0.20 (0.44)	0.976
Uric acid, mg/dl	5.0 (1.6)	5.5 (1.3)	4.9 (1.6)	0.215

Abbreviation: GDS, Geriatric Depression Scale; MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination; K-ADL, Korean Activities of Daily Living; K-IADL, Korean Instrumental Activities of Daily Living; HDL cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; BUN, blood urea nitrogen; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; CRP, C-reactive protein. .

*p < 0.05.

**p < 0.01.

Table 2. Relationships between clinical characteristics and subjective health of centenarian and near-centenarian participants.

	Subjective health
	Good (n = 61) Mean (SD)	Poor (n = 33) Mean (SD)	Statistical coefficients	p-Value	FDR-adjusted p-value
Sociodemographic characteristics
Age, years	97.8 (3)	98.1 (3.4)	t = 0.484	0.629	0.660
Gender, female, n (%)	44 (78.6%)	33 (86.8%)	χ^2 = 1.045	0.307	0.402
Literacy, n (%)
Illiterate	26 (49.1%)	23 (79.3%)	χ^2 = 7.554	0.023*	0.080
Semiliterate	5 (9.4%)	2 (6.9%)
Literate	22 (41.5%)	4 (13.8%)
Living status, alone, n (%)	27 (48.2%)	12 (31.6%)	χ^2 = 2.581	0.108	0.206
Number of children	5 (1.8)	5.4 (2.2)	t = 0.885	0.379	0.468
Family history of longevity, yes, n (%)	26 (50.0%)	22 (62.9%)	χ^2 = 1.398	0.237	0.382
General health and social functioning
Number of illnesses	1.2 (1.3)	0.9 (1.1)	t = −1.068	0.288	0.403
Systolic blood pressure, mmHg	150.5 (20.1)	149.7 (22.6)	t = −0.180	0.858	0.858
Diastolic blood pressure, mmHg	76.8 (12.4)	78.8 (15.7)	t = −0.693	0.490	0.571
Pulse rate, bpm	75.4 (11.8)	81.3 (13.1)	t = 2.272	0.025*	0.075
Daily total sleep time, h	8.4 (1.6)	8.9 (1.4)	t = 1.122	0.266	0.399
Chewing difficulty, no, n (%)	27 (55.1%)	17 (48.6%)	χ^2 = 0.349	0.555	0.613
Hearing difficulty, no, n (%)	45 (86.5%)	22 (61.1%)	χ^2 = 7.570	0.006**	0.031*
Daily physical activity, 30 min or more, n (%)	31 (55.4%)	16 (42.1%)	χ^2 = 1.590	0.207	0.362
Frequency of social contact, high, n (%)	29 (51.8%)	13 (34.2%)	χ^2 = 2.829	0.093	0.195
Mental health
GDS	1.3 (2.4)	3.8 (3.1)	t = 4.028	<0.001**	<0.001**
Cognitive and physical functioning
MMSE	15.3 (6.0)	11.0 (5.6)	t = −3.177	0.002**	0.021*
K-ADL	1.9 (2)	3.2 (2.7)	t = 2.591	0.011*	0.046*
K-IADL	6.6 (3)	7.9 (2.7)	t = 2.184	0.032*	0.084
Hand grip strength, kg	6.4 (5.0)	3.4 (3.8)	t = −3.051	0.003**	0.021*
Gait speed, m/s	0.2 (0.0)	0.2 (0.0)	t = −1.827	0.074	0.172

χ² test, t-test as appropriate.

Values in bold type show statistical significance after Benjamini–Hochberg FDR correction (FDR-adjusted p < 0.05).

Abbreviations: GDS, Geriatric Depression Scale; MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination; K-ADL, Korean Activities of Daily Living; K-IADL, Korean Instrumental Activities of Daily Living.

*p < 0.05.

**p < 0.01.

Table 3. Logistic regression models of factors predicting good subjective health in centenarian and near-centenarian participants.

Model	B	SE	Wald	OR*	95% CI	p-Value
Hearing difficulty	−0.755	0.858	0.774	0.470	0.087–2.527	0.379
GDS	−0.319	0.118	7.319	0.727	0.577–0.916	0.007**
MMSE	0.117	0.062	3.567	1.124	0.996–1.270	0.059
K-IADL	−0.106	0.124	0.732	0.900	0.706–1.147	0.392
Hand grip strength	0.062	0.068	0.849	1.064	0.932–1.215	0.357

Adjusted for all other variables in the model, R² = 0.39.

Abbreviations: GDS, Geriatric Depression Scale; MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination; K-IADL, Korean Instrumental Activities of Daily Living; SE, standard error; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.

*p < 0.05.

**p < 0.01.

Table 4. Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) single-item comparisons according to subjective health.

	Subjective health
	Total (n = 94) n (%)	Good (n = 61) n (%)	Poor (n = 33) n (%)	Statistical coefficients (χ^2)	p-Value
Feel life is empty, yes	4 (4.5%)	3 (5.6%)	1 (2.9%)	0.329	0.566
Often feel helpless, yes	6 (6.8%)	3 (5.6%)	3 (8.8%)	0.351	0.554
Feel pretty worthless, yes	8 (9.1%)	2 (3.7%)	6 (17.6%)	4.908	0.051
Feel situation is hopeless, yes	6 (6.8%)	4 (7.4%)	2 (5.9%)	0.076	0.782
Basically satisfied with life^a, no	16 (18.2%)	5 (9.3%)	11 (32.4%)	7.480	0.006*
Dropped activities and interests, yes	34 (38.6%)	14 (25.9%)	20 (58.8%)	9.524	0.002*
Often get bored, yes	29 (33.3%)	12 (22.6%)	17 (50%)	6.976	0.008*
Happy most of the time^a, no	19 (21.6%)	7 (13%)	12 (35.3%)	6.146	0.013*
Afraid something bad will happen, yes	8 (9.1%)	3 (5.6%)	5 (14.7%)	2.114	0.146
In good spirits^a, no	17 (19.3%)	7 (13%)	10 (29.4%)	3.622	0.057
Prefer to stay home, yes	6 (6.8%)	1 (1.9%)	5 (14.7%)	5.454	0.020*
More problems with memory than most, yes	1 (1.1%)	1 (1.9%)	0 (0%)	0.649	0.420
Wonderful to be alive^a, no	33 (37.9%)	12 (22.6%)	21 (61.8%)	13.466	<0.001**
Full of energy^a, no	23 (26.4%)	8 (15.1%)	15 (44.1%)	8.971	0.003*
Most people are better off, yes	1 (1.2%)	0 (0%)	1 (2.9%)	1.547	0.214

χ² test.

^aReverse-scored item.

*p < 0.05.

**p < 0.01.

Data availability statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.