Department of Nursing, Umeå University, Sweden.
Aging Ment Health. 2010 Aug;14(6):757-63. doi: 10.1080/13607861003713216.
To investigate the relationship between purpose in life and depression and, in a five-year follow-up investigate whether purpose in life, adjusted for different background characteristics, can prevent very old men and women from developing depression.
A cross-sectional study included 189 participants (120 women and 69 men) 85-103 years of age living in a county in northern Sweden. Those who had not been diagnosed as depressed at baseline were included in the five-year follow-up study (n = 78). Depression was assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale-15, the Organic Brain Syndrome scale, the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale, and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria. Purpose in life was assessed with the Purpose in Life (PIL) scale.
In the cross-sectional study, 40 participants out of 189 (21.2%) were depressed, and those with depression had significantly lower PIL scores (mean score 107 vs. 99, p = 0.014). In the follow-up study, 78 persons were available for the assessment of depression. Of those, 21 (26.9%) were diagnosed as depressed and their mean PIL score at baseline was 106 (SD = 17.4) versus 108 (SD = 16.0, p = 0.750) among those not depressed. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis controlling for possible confounders, we found no association between purpose in life and the risk of developing depression after five years (OR = 1.0, 95% CI 0.97-1.03).
The results show a significant inverse relationship between purpose in life and depression in the cross-sectional study; however, a high PIL score does not seem to serve very old people as a protection against the risk of developing depression.
探讨生活目的与抑郁之间的关系，并在五年随访中研究生活目的是否可以预防非常老的男性和女性患上抑郁症，该研究调整了不同的背景特征。
一项横断面研究纳入了 189 名年龄在 85-103 岁、居住在瑞典北部一个县的参与者（120 名女性和 69 名男性）。那些在基线时未被诊断为抑郁的人被纳入了五年随访研究（n=78）。使用老年抑郁量表-15、器质性脑综合征量表、蒙哥马利-阿斯伯格抑郁评定量表和精神障碍诊断与统计手册-IV 标准评估抑郁。生活目的通过生活目的（PIL）量表进行评估。
在横断面研究中，189 名参与者中有 40 名（21.2%）患有抑郁，抑郁患者的 PIL 评分明显较低（平均评分 107 分 vs. 99 分，p=0.014）。在随访研究中，有 78 人可用于评估抑郁。其中，21 人（26.9%）被诊断为抑郁，他们的基线 PIL 评分为 106（SD=17.4），而未抑郁者的 PIL 评分为 108（SD=16.0，p=0.750）。使用多元逻辑回归分析控制可能的混杂因素，我们发现五年后生活目的与患抑郁的风险之间没有关联（OR=1.0，95%CI 0.97-1.03）。
结果显示，在横断面研究中，生活目的与抑郁之间存在显著的反比关系；然而，高 PIL 评分似乎并不能保护非常老的人免受患上抑郁症的风险。
