How much time of sedentary behavior is associated with depressive symptoms in community-dwelling older adults in southern Brazil?

Abstract

Identify sedentary behavior (SB) cut-off points to screen for depressive symptoms in older adults and verify the association between these conditions. A cross-sectional survey of 308 community-dwelling older adults was conducted. The outcome was the presence of depressive symptoms (≥6 points on the Geriatric Depression Scale-15). The exposure was SB using the self-reported time on a weekday and weekend (International Physical Activity Questionnaire). The cut-off points for SB categorization were determined by the receiver operating characteristic curve and multivariate logistic regression to verify the association. Older adults who spent ≥4.5 hours/day in SB (sensitivity=48.8%; specificity=67.8%) were 1.81 times more likely (95%CI: 1.03;3.15) to have depressive symptoms compared to those who stayed for shorter periods. There was an association between SB and depressive symptoms; therefore, older adults must have SB <4.5 hours/day to reduce the chances of developing depressive symptoms.