The relationship between functional disability and depressive mood in Japanese older adult inpatients

Depression is commonly found in older adult patients and is often associated with handicaps. The authors administered the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA), including basic activities of daily living (BADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS)-15, and a socioenvironmental questionnaire to 198 patients who were admitted to Nagoya University Hospital, to examine the relationship between depressive mood and various physical and socioenvironmental outcomes. The overall GDS-15 score was correlated with the BADL and IADL. The factor analysis extracted 4 factors from the GDS-15 subscales. The factors labeled "loss of morale and hope" and "memory loss and reduction of social activity" were highly correlated with both ADLs, social variables, and the MMSE score. The results reveal that factor analysis of GDS-15 will help in understanding the etiology of depressive mood, thereby contributing to better therapeutic approaches.