Personal, behavioral, and perceived environmental factors associated with late-life depression in older men and women

Figures & data

Table 1 Participant characteristics overall and by sex (n=1025)

Variables	Total	Men	Women	p-value
n (%)	1025	522 (50.9%)	503 (49.1%)
Personal factors
Age (year)				0.001*
65–74	677 (66.0%)	319 (61.1%)	358 (71.2%)
75+	348 (34.0%)	203 (38.9%)	145 (28.8%)
Residential area				0.003*
Metropolitan	505 (49.3%)	233 (44.6%)	272 (54.1%)
Non-metropolitan	520 (50.7%)	289 (55.4%)	231 (45.9%)
Educational status				<0.001**
High school degree and lower	731 (71.3%)	330 (63.2%)	401 (79.7%)
University and higher	294 (28.7%)	192 (36.8%)	102 (20.3%)
Occupational type				0.018*
Not full-time	920 (89.8%)	457 (87.5%)	463 (92.0%)
Full-time	105 (10.2%)	65 (12.5%)	40 (8.0%)
Marital status				<0.001**
Not married	234 (22.8%)	85 (16.3%)	149 (29.6%)
Married	791 (77.2%)	437 (83.7%)	354 (70.4%)
Accommodation status				0.382
Living alone	139 (13.6%)	66 (12.6%)	73 (14.5%)
Living with others	886 (86.4%)	456 (87.4%)	430 (85.5%)
BMI				0.022*
Non-overweight	599 (58.4%)	287 (55.0%)	312 (62.0%)
Overweight	426 (41.6%)	235 (45.0%)	191 (38.0%)
Hypertension				0.588
Yes	453 (44.2%)	235 (45.0%)	218 (43.3%)
No	572 (55.8%)	287 (55.0%)	285 (56.7%)
Diabetes mellitus				0.244
Yes	190 (18.5%)	104 (19.9%)	86 (17.1%)
No	835 (81.5%)	418 (80.1%)	417 (82.9%)
Cardiovascular diseases				0.138
Yes	173 (16.9%)	97 (18.6%)	76 (15.1%)
No	852 (83.1%)	425 (81.4%)	427 (84.9%)
Self-rated health status				0.138
Good	830 (81.0%)	432 (82.8%)	398 (79.1%)
Poor	195 (19.0%)	90 (17.2%)	105 (20.9%)
Depression				0.535
Yes	345 (33.7%)	171 (32.8%)	174 (34.6%)
No	680 (66.3%)	351 (67.2%)	329 (65.4%)
Behavioral factors
Leisure-time walking				0.052
Sufficient	682 (66.5%)	362 (69.3%)	320 (63.6%)
Insufficient	343 (33.5%)	160 (30.7%)	183 (36.4%)
Television viewing				0.775
Low	508 (49.6%)	261 (50.0%)	247 (49.1%)
High	517 (50.4%)	261 (50.0%)	256 (50.9%)
Alcohol use				<0.001**
Yes	113 (11.0%)	98 (18.8%)	15 (3.0%)
No	912 (89.0%)	424 (81.2%)	488 (97.0%)
Smoking status				<0.001**
Yes	75 (7.3%)	71 (13.6%)	4 (0.8%)
No	950 (92.7%)	451 (86.4%)	499 (99.2%)
Diet behavior				0.427
Yes	819 (79.9%)	412 (78.9%)	407 (80.9%)
No	206 (20.1%)	110 (21.1%)	96 (19.1%)
Perceived environmental factors
Safety from crimes at night				0.036*
Safe	851 (83.0%)	446 (85.4%)	405 (80.5%)
Not safe	174 (17.0%)	76 (14.6%)	98 (19.5%)
Traffic safety				0.708
Safe	683 (66.6%)	345 (66.1%)	338 (67.2%)
Not safe	342 (33.4%)	177 (33.9%)	165 (32.8%)

Notes: *P<0.05, **P<0.001.

Abbreviation: BMI, body mass index.

Table 2 Multiple factors associated with depression by sex

Variables	Total	Men	Women
	OR (95% CI)	OR (95% CI)	OR (95% CI)
Personal factors
Age (year)	0.98 (0.96–1.00)	0.96 (0.93–0.99)*	1.01 (0.97–1.04)
Residential area
Metropolitan	0.97 (0.74–1.26)	1.11 (0.76–1.64)	0.88 (0.60–1.28)
Non-metropolitan	1.00	1.00	1.00
Educational status
High school degree and lower	1.15 (0.85–1.57)	1.16 (0.76–1.75)	1.06 (0.65–1.71)
University and higher	1.00	1.00	1.00
Occupational type
Not full-time	0.88 (0.57–1.37)	1.20 (0.67–2.16)	0.59 (0.30–1.18)
Full-time	1.00	1.00	1.00
Marital status
Not married	1.00	1.00	1.00
Married	0.83 (0.58–1.19)	0.56 (0.31–1.02)	1.06 (0.67–1.70)
Accommodation status
Living alone	1.14 (0.74–1.76)	1.68 (0.86–3.30)	0.72 (0.39–1.33)
Living with others	1.00	1.00	1.00
BMI (kg/m^2)
Non-overweight(<24)	1.13 (0.86–1.48)	1.02 (0.69–1.50)	1.31 (0.88–1.95)
Overweight (≧24)	1.00	1.00	1.00
Hypertension
Yes	1.20 (0.91–1.57)	0.86 (0.58–1.27)	1.64 (1.11–2.45)*
No	1.00	1.00	1.00
Diabetes mellitus
Yes	1.08 (0.77–1.52)	1.48 (0.92–2.37)	0.65 (0.38–1.10)
No	1.00	1.00	1.00
Cardiovascular diseases
Yes	0.86 (0.60–1.25)	1.06 (0.64–1.75)	0.63 (0.35–1.13)
No	1.00	1.00	1.00
Self-rated health status
Good	1.00	1.00	1.00
Poor	2.54 (1.82–3.54)***	2.68 (1.63–4.41)***	3.03 (1.87–4.91)***
Behavioral factors
Leisure-time walking (mins/week)
Sufficient (≧150)	0.83 (0.62–1.11)	0.56 (0.36–0.86)**	1.24 (0.81–1.90)
Insufficient (<150)	1.00	1.00	1.00
Television viewing
Low	1.00	1.00	1.00
High	1.27 (0.97–1.65)	0.94 (0.64–1.37)	1.75 (1.19–2.58)***
Alcohol use
Yes	1.00	1.00	1.00
No	1.34 (0.85–2.11)	1.30 (0.78–2.15)	1.24 (0.39–3.99)
Smoking status
Yes	1.00	1.00	1.00
No	0.78 (0.46–1.32)	0.87 (0.50–1.53)	0.45 (0.05–3.80)
Diet behavior
Yes	1.00	1.00	1.00
No	1.01 (0.73–1.40)	0.73 (0.45–1.18)	1.44 (0.91–2.30)
Perceived environmental factors
Safety from crimes at night
Safe	0.73 (0.52–1.03)	0.60 (0.35–1.02)	0.71 (0.44–1.16)
Not safe	1.00	1.00	1.00
Traffic safety
Safe	0.78 (0.59–1.03)	0.61 (0.41–0.91)*	1.01 (0.67–1.51)
Not safe	1.00	1.00	1.00

Notes:*P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001.

Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.

Data availability

The data used during the present study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.