The Correlation of Quality of Life and Leisure with Elderly Depression in a Taiwanese Suburban Community

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this community-based study was to examine the prevalence and related risk factors of elderly depression in a suburban area in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Methods: With the Disaster-related Psychological Screening Test (DRPST) and the Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire, we interviewed 871 aged elderly in a community. Six hundred and nine (69.9%) elderly residents completed the interview. Results: We identified 89 (adjusted prevalence was 14.29%) elderly as having probable major depression. The risk factors of having probable depression in the elderly were illiteracy (aOR=2.1, 95% CI:1.0-4.2), a poor Physical Components Summary (aOR=3.2, 95% CI:1.7-6.3), a poor Mental Components Summary (aOR=2.5, 95% CI:1.4-4.5), and a lack of leisure companions reported in this study was slightly lower than that of recent studies in Taiwan. Poor quality of life and lack of leisure companion are predictors of elderly depression. Intervention programs should put resources into promoting quality of life and leisure- time arrangement for the elderly population.