Gender Differences in the Association Between Sarcopenia and Depressive Symptoms Among Community-Dwelling Older People in a Chinese Suburban Area

Linqian Lu; Lin Mao; Shanshan Yang; Xiangfeng He; Zhen Zhang; Nan Chen

doi:10.2147/JMDH.S439785

Gender Differences in the Association Between Sarcopenia and Depressive Symptoms Among Community-Dwelling Older People in a Chinese Suburban Area

J Multidiscip Healthc. 2023 Dec 4:16:3813-3824. doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S439785. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Linqian Lu^#^{1

2}, Lin Mao^#³, Shanshan Yang^#³, Xiangfeng He¹, Zhen Zhang¹, Nan Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Rehabilitation, Chongming Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
² The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Rehabilitation, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Sarcopenia and depressive symptoms are common disorders in older people; however, there is lacking for studies focus on the association between sarcopenia and depressive symptoms by gender. Thus, we investigate gender differences in the association between sarcopenia and depressive symptoms.

Methods: 1119 participants aged ≥65 were included in our study. Sarcopenia was defined as no sarcopenia, possible sarcopenia, general sarcopenia, and severe sarcopenia by the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 consensus. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Geriatric Depression Scale-15. The logistic regression analysis was used to identify the association between sarcopenia and depressive symptoms.

Results: No sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia were significantly inversely and positively associated with depressive symptoms only in women. In men, low appendicular skeletal muscle mass index was significantly inversely associated with depressive symptoms. In women, low gait speed was significantly inversely associated with depressive symptoms, while poor 5-time chair stand test was significantly positively associated with depressive symptoms.

Conclusion: Our study found that sarcopenia and its diagnostic elements were significantly associated with depressive symptoms in men or women. Interventions for muscle mass and physical performance are necessary for sarcopenia to prevent the development of depressive symptoms timely.

Keywords: depressive symptoms; gender difference; older people; sarcopenia; suburban area.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China “Mechanism of the Regulation of Skeletal Muscle Cell AMPK Pathway by Intestinal P.merdae in the Progression of Sarcopenia” (No.82102651), and the Center for Whole Population Whole Lifecycle Cohort Clinical Research (22MC2022001).