Impact of Body Mass Index and Perceived Health Status on Depression in Elderly Women Living Alone in the Community

Eun Kyeung Song; Youn-Jung Son

doi:10.12934/jkpmhn.2011.20.4.376

Journal List > J Korean Acad Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs > v.20(4) > 1057920

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Song and Son: Impact of Body Mass Index and Perceived Health Status on Depression in Elderly Women Living Alone in the Community

Original Article

Journal of Korean Academy of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 2011; 20(4): 376-385.

Published online: 31 December 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12934/jkpmhn.2011.20.4.376

Impact of Body Mass Index and Perceived Health Status on Depression in Elderly Women Living Alone in the Community

Eun Kyeung Song¹, Youn-Jung Son²

¹Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing, University of Ulsan, Korea.

²Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, Soonchunhyang University, Korea.

Address reprint requests to: Son, Youn-Jung, Department of Nursing, Soonchunhyang University, 366-1 Ssangyong-dong, Cheonan 330-090, Korea. Tel: 82-41-570-2487, Fax: 82-41-570-2498, yjson@sch.ac.kr

Received 21 September 2011 Revised 5 December 2011 Accepted 9 December 2011

(open-access):

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

This study was done to identify the prevalence of depression and determine the relationship of body mass index and perceived health status to depression for elderly women who live alone in the community.

Methods

A total of 175 adults aged over 60 participated in this cross-sectional descriptive study. Perceived heath status was measured using a self-report one-item questionnaire. Body mass index was calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. Depression was assessed using the Korean short version of the geriatric depression scale. Hierarchical linear regression was used to identify associations between variables.

Results

Approximately 61.7% of elderly women who lived alone were depressed. The mean score for depression was 7.4 (SD 3.39). Hierarchical linear regression showed body mass index (β=.25, p<.001) and perceived health status (β=-.26, p<.001) were independently associated with depression adjusting for general characteristics. These two predictors accounted for 12% of the variance in depression.

Conclusion

These results suggest that obesity and perceived health status are risk factors for depression in elderly women living alone. Therefore, these factors should be considered when developing intervention program for elderly women with depression.

Keywords: Living arrangement, Women, Depression, Body mass index

Figures and Tables

Table 1

General Characteristics of Elderly Women Living Alone (N=175)

Table 2

The Level of Body Mass Index, Perceived Health Status and Depression (N=175)

Table 3

Degree of Depression according to General Characteristics of Elderly Women (N=175)

Table 4

Correlation among Depression, Body Mass Index, and Perceived Health Status (N=175)

Table 5

Predictors of Depression in Hierarchical Regression (N=175)

^†Dummy variables (Monthly income: bellow 1 million=0, above 1 million=1; Education level: bellow elementary school=0, above middle school=1; Job: no=0, yes=1; Difficulty in activity: no=0, yes=1).

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