Purpose: Late-onset depression (LOD) with poor treatment response has high incidence and mortality in the China's aged people, this study aims to explore the correlation between health-promoting lifestyle, meaning in life, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and LOD for providing scientific basis of LOD prevention and rehabilitation.
Patients and methods: A total of 496 LOD patients (study group) and healthy older adults (control group) were enrolled and investigated by using the Health-promoting lifestyle Profile-II, revised (HPLP-IIR), Meaning in Life Questionnaire-Chinese Version (MLQ-C), and Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD). The interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the circulating blood was detected by utilizing ELISA kit.
Results: The results showed that the scores of all factors in HPLP-IIR and MLQ were significantly lower and IL-6 level was higher in the study group than the control group. Scores of most factors in HPLP-IIR and MLQ negatively and IL-6 positively correlated with scores of subscales and total HAMD score. Meaning in life and IL-6 partially mediated the relationship between health-promoting lifestyles and depression severity in the study group, with the mediating effect explains 15.76% and 22.64% of the total effect, respectively.
Conclusion: Health-promoting lifestyles, meaning in life, and IL-6 are predictors of LOD, and an unhealthy lifestyle could induce LOD through the mediating effect of meaning in life and IL-6 in older adults.
Keywords: health-promoting lifestyle; late-onset depression; meaning in life; older adult.
© 2023 Zhu et al.