Table 3.
Sociodemographic, socioeconomic, lifestyle, and health-related characteristics of the Portuguese elderly population with and without depression symptoms.
| Sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics | Elderly without depression symptoms (HADS-D <11) | Elderly with depression symptoms (HADS-D ≥11) | p-Value | Adjusted p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (SD) or n (%) | Mean (SD) or n (%) | ||||
| n = 1,439 (88.23%) | n = 241 (11.77%) | ||||
| Age* (years) | 73.57 (6.51) | 75.74 (7.23) | <0.001† | 0.001† | |
| Sex* | Female | 747 (84.47) | 161 (15.53) | <0.001† | <0.001† |
| Male | 692 (91.64) | 80 (8.36) | |||
| NUTS II* | Norte | 463 (87.84) | 80 (12.16) | 0.020† | 0.084 |
| Centro | 360 (85.41) | 67 (14.59) | |||
| Lisboa e Vale do Tejo | 281 (93.63) | 33 (6.37) | |||
| Alentejo | 89 (87.2) | 17 (12.8) | |||
| Algarve | 50 (86.89) | 10 (13.11) | |||
| Região Autónoma dos Açores | 76 (87.77) | 11 (12.23) | |||
| Região Autónoma da Madeira | 120 (85.62) | 23 (14.38) | |||
| Education level* | ≤4 years of education | 1,046 (65.37) | 213 (34.63) | <0.001† | <0.001† |
| >4 years of education | 373 (76.84) | 24 (23.16) | |||
| Household income* (€) | ≤500 | 342 (80.53) | 100 (19.47) | <0.001† | 0.007† |
| 501–750 | 291 (88.06) | 41 (11.94) | |||
| 751–1,000 | 154 (96.26) | 14 (3.74) | |||
| >1,000 | 271 (93.22) | 20 (6.78) | |||
| Household composition | 1 | 347 (84.05) | 82 (15.95) | 0.009† | 0.161 |
| ≥2 | 1,092 (89.58) | 159 (10.42) | |||
| Anthropometric data* | |||||
| BMI | Underweight | 9 (74.53) | 2 (24.47) | 0.293 | 0.245 |
| Normal | 388 (89.99) | 56 (10.01) | |||
| Overweight | 620 (89.98) | 86 (10.02) | |||
| Obese | 284 (86.98) | 53 (13.02) | |||
| Lifestyle characteristics | |||||
| Alcohol intake* | Never | 579 (83.2) | 153 (16.8) | <0.001† | 0.001† |
| Daily intake | 553 (91.7) | 58 (8.3) | |||
| Occasionally | 304 (92.1) | 30 (7.9) | |||
| Smoke* | Never | 926 (85.8) | 188 (14.2) | 0.001† | 0.154 |
| Past | 434 (93.0) | 40 (7.0) | |||
| Present | 78 (90.2) | 13 (9.8) | |||
| No regular physical exercise* | 807 (85.0) | 175 (15.0) | <0.001† | 0.001 | |
| Sleep habits (h) | <6 | 241 (86.1) | 47 (13.9) | 0.008† | 0.048† |
| ≥6 | 528 (92.1) | 59 (7.9) | |||
| Quality of life and physical function** | |||||
| EQ5D (0–1) | 0.67 ± 0.02 | 0.32 ± 0.02 | <0.001† | <0.001† | |
| HAQ score (0–3) | 0.61 ± 0.03 | 1.38 ± 0.59 | <0.001† | <0.001† | |
| Number of non-communicable diseases | 2.95 ± 1.93 | 4.36 ± 2.70 | <0.001† | <0.001† | |
| High blood pressure (Y/N)* | 804 (87.2) | 149 (12.76) | 0.093 | 0.121 | |
| Diabetes (Y/N)* | 315 (84.8) | 73 (15.2) | 0.039† | 0.022† | |
| High cholesterol level (Y/N)* | 688 (86.0) | 129 (14.0) | 0.013† | 0.056 | |
| Pulmonar disease (Y/N)* | 150 (82.9) | 39 (17.1) | 0.023† | 0.038† | |
| Cardiac disease (Y/N)* | 347 (83.6) | 90 (16.5) | 0.001† | 0.015† | |
| Gastrointestinal diseases (Y/N)* | 367 (63.6) | 85 (36.4) | 0.019† | 0.019† | |
| Neurologic diseases (Y/N)* | 102 (80.5) | 26 (19.5) | 0.028† | 0.009† | |
| Allergies (Y/N) | 312 (87.9) | 58 (12.1) | 0.074 | 0.970 | |
| Neoplasic disease (Y/N)* | 122 (87.3) | 21 (12.7) | 0.686 | 0.676 | |
| Thyroid disease (Y/N)* | 157 (80.6) | 40 (19.4) | 0.001† | 0.061 | |
| Hyperuricemia (Y/N)* | 181 (83.2) | 39 (16.8) | 0.010† | 0.009† | |
| Rheumatic disease (Y/N)* | 649 (82.9) | 161 (17.1) | <0.001† | <0.001† | |
| Health resources consumption** | |||||
| Was hospitalizes since last contact | 334 (86.6) | 69 (13.4) | 0.226 | 0.043† | |
| Went to medical appointments in hospitals since last contact | 8.170 ± 0.634 | 8.961 ± 1.092 | 0.455 | 0.376 | |
%, weighted percentage; NUTS II, Nomenclatura das Unidades Territoriais, level II; BMI, body mass index; €, euro; HADS-D, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale—Depression subscale; HAQ, Health Assessment Questionnaire (0–3); EQ5D, European Quality of Life questionnaire five dimensions three levels (0–1).
†p-Value ≤ 0.05.
*p-Value was adjusted for age, sex, and region.
**p-Value was adjusted for age, sex, region, and number of non-communicable diseases.