Institute of Psychology, Vilnius University, Universiteto Str. 9/1, 01513 Vilnius, Lithuania.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 22;19(15):8892. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19158892.
Risk factors for depression in older adults include significant interpersonal losses, increasing social isolation, and deteriorating physical abilities and health that require healthcare. The effects of unmet healthcare needs on depression in older adults are understudied. This study aimed to analyze the association between unmet healthcare needs and symptoms of depression, sleep, and antidepressant medication while controlling for other significant factors among older adults. For this study, we used a multinational database from The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), containing data of individuals aged 50 and older. The final sample used in this research consisted of 39,484 individuals from 50 to 100 years (mean - 71.15, SD ± 9.19), 42.0 percent of whom were male. Three path models exploring relationships between symptoms of depression at an older age and unmet healthcare needs were produced and had a good model fit. We found that unmet healthcare needs were directly related to depression, activity limitations were related to depression directly and through unmet healthcare needs, whereas financial situation mostly indirectly through unmet healthcare needs. We discuss how depression itself could increase unmet healthcare needs.
老年人抑郁的风险因素包括重大人际损失、社交孤立增加、身体功能和健康状况恶化需要医疗保健。未满足的医疗保健需求对老年人抑郁的影响研究不足。本研究旨在分析在控制老年人其他重要因素的情况下，未满足的医疗保健需求与抑郁症状、睡眠和抗抑郁药物之间的关联。在这项研究中，我们使用了来自欧洲健康、老龄化和退休调查（SHARE）的多国家数据库，其中包含了 50 岁及以上人群的数据。本研究最终使用了来自 50 至 100 岁的 39484 个人（平均年龄为 71.15 岁，标准差 ± 9.19），其中 42.0%为男性。我们构建了三个路径模型来探索老年人抑郁症状与未满足的医疗保健需求之间的关系，这些模型具有良好的拟合度。我们发现，未满足的医疗保健需求与抑郁直接相关，活动受限与抑郁直接相关，并通过未满足的医疗保健需求间接相关，而财务状况主要通过未满足的医疗保健需求间接相关。我们讨论了抑郁本身如何增加未满足的医疗保健需求。
