Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China.
Department of Psychological Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Int J Health Geogr. 2020 Nov 13;19(1):48. doi: 10.1186/s12942-020-00238-w.
Geriatric depression is a growing public health issue worldwide. This study aims at identifying the relevant neighbourhood attributes, separate from the individual-level characteristics, that are related to the onset of depressive disorders among the geriatric population.
This study adopts a structural equation modelling (SEM) approach to understand the effect of the neighbourhood environment on geriatric depression, as identified by data collected from community-dwelling elderly living in Hong Kong and Singapore. Using network buffers as the unit of analysis, different features of the neighbourhood environment are captured and analysed. SEM also examines the strength and direction of the relationships using different parameters at both the individual and neighbourhood levels, as well as the prevalence of depressive symptoms among the elderly.
The total sample size is 347, with 173 and 174 elderly people in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively. The results show that in addition to one's physical health status, both objective and subjective neighbourhood factors including the size of parks, land use mix, walkability, and connectivity are all statistically significant influential factors in geriatric depression. In particular, enhancing walkability and providing more parks at the neighbourhood level can bring mental health benefits.
Public health policy initiatives aimed at tackling geriatric depression can be achieved by adopting a holistic and integrative approach to better prepare the neighbourhood environment in an ageing society.
老年抑郁症是全球日益严重的公共卫生问题。本研究旨在确定与老年人抑郁障碍发病相关的、与个体特征分开的相关邻里属性。
本研究采用结构方程模型（SEM）方法，通过收集居住在香港和新加坡的社区老年人的数据，了解邻里环境对老年抑郁症的影响。使用网络缓冲区作为分析单位，捕捉和分析邻里环境的不同特征。SEM 还使用个体和邻里层面的不同参数以及老年人中抑郁症状的流行率，检查关系的强度和方向。
总样本量为 347 人，其中香港和新加坡分别有 173 人和 174 人。结果表明，除了一个人的身体健康状况外，客观和主观的邻里因素，包括公园大小、土地利用混合、可步行性和连通性，都是老年抑郁症的统计学上显著影响因素。特别是，提高可步行性和在邻里层面提供更多公园可以带来心理健康益处。
通过采用整体和综合的方法来改善老龄化社会的邻里环境，可以实现针对老年抑郁症的公共卫生政策举措。
