Luo Yan, Yip Paul Siu Fai, Zhang Qingpeng
Department of Data Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Nat Hum Behav. 2025 Jan;9(1):90-100. doi: 10.1038/s41562-024-02048-7. Epub 2024 Nov 18.
The Internet is increasingly important in addressing age-related mental health challenges. We used linear mixed models and meta-analyses to examine the association between Internet use and mental health among 87,559 adults aged ≥50 years from 23 countries. Internet use was associated with fewer depressive symptoms (pooled average marginal effect (AME), -0.09; 95% confidence interval (CI), -0.12 to -0.07), higher life satisfaction (pooled AME, 0.07; 95% CI, 0.05 to 0.10) and better self-reported health (pooled AME, 0.15; 95% CI, 0.12 to 0.17). For two countries (the USA and England) with genetic data available, positive associations between Internet use and mental health were observed across three genetic risk categories. For three countries (the USA, England and China), a higher frequency of Internet use was related to better mental health. Our findings are relevant to public health policies and practices in promoting mental health in later life through the Internet, especially in countries with limited Internet access and mental health services.
互联网在应对与年龄相关的心理健康挑战方面正变得越来越重要。我们使用线性混合模型和荟萃分析，对来自23个国家的87559名年龄≥50岁的成年人的互联网使用情况与心理健康之间的关联进行了研究。互联网使用与较少的抑郁症状相关（合并平均边际效应（AME）为-0.09；95%置信区间（CI）为-0.12至-0.07），与更高的生活满意度相关（合并AME为0.07；95%CI为0.05至0.10），以及与自我报告的更好健康状况相关（合并AME为0.15；95%CI为0.12至0.17）。对于有基因数据可用的两个国家（美国和英国），在三个遗传风险类别中均观察到互联网使用与心理健康之间存在正相关。对于三个国家（美国、英国和中国），更高的互联网使用频率与更好的心理健康相关。我们的研究结果与通过互联网促进晚年心理健康的公共卫生政策和实践相关，尤其是在互联网接入和心理健康服务有限的国家。
