Living arrangements and risk for late life depression: a meta-analysis of published literature.

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this study was to determine the relationship between living arrangements and risk for depression among older people.

METHOD

MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library database was used to identify potential studies. The studies were divided into cross-sectional and longitudinal subsets. Qualitative meta-analysis of the cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies was performed, respectively. For prevalence and incidence rates of depression, odds ratio (OR) and relative risk (RR) were calculated, respectively.

RESULTS

The qualitative meta-analysis showed that older people living alone had a higher risk of depression than those not living alone (OR: 1.44; 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.04-1.99); Relative risk (RR: 1.27, 95% CI: 0.89-1.80) and those living with families (OR: 2.59, 95% CI: 1.60-4.20). Older people living in a nursing home (OR: 2.90, 95% CI: 0.94-8.94; RR: 1.94, 95% CI: 1.18-3.20) or institutionalized setting (OR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.37-2.52; RR: 2.03, 95% CI: 1.12-3.70) had a higher risk of depression than those living in home.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the methodological limitations of this meta-analysis, living arrangements appear related to the risk for depression in the older population. Older persons living alone, in a nursing home, or in an institutionalized setting have higher risk for depression.