Association between depressive symptoms trajectories and cognitive function in late middle-age and older population: results of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Abstract

Thisstudyinvestigated theassociationbetweendepressive symptomsandcognitive functionaccording to four differenttrajectoriesofdepressive symptomsin thelatemiddle-agedandolderSouthKoreanpopulation. Panel data from theKoreanLongitudinal StudyofAgeingwere analyzed. We used latent classtrajectorymodels to identify fourtrajectoriesofdepressive symptoms. We performed linear mixed-effects regression analysis to assessassociationsbetweendepressive-symptomtrajectoriesand MMSE scores. Of 4,374 participants, 18.4%, 4.9%, 55.2%, and 21.5% were classified as having a low, increasing, moderate declining, and highdepressive-symptomtrajectory, respectively. Individuals with an increasingtrajectory(β = -0.729, P ≤ 0.001), moderatetrajectory(β = -0.278, P = 0.003), and hightrajectory(β = -1.605, P ≤ 0.001) had lower MMSE scores compared with those in the lowtrajectorygroup. These relationships were particularly strong among women; individuals who were physically inactive; those who were separated, divorced, or single; and those with hypertension or cerebrovascular disease. Eachtrajectorygroupfordepressive symptomswasassociatedwithcognitivedecline. Moreover, female, physically inactive, and single individuals, as well as those with hypertension and cerebrovascular disease should be particularly mindful of their mental and physical health to preventcognitivedecline.