Association between Depressive Symptoms and Risk of Sarcopenia in Taiwanese Older Adults

Symptoms of depression and high risk of sarcopenia are common among the older population; however, the associations between these remain unclear. Thus, the present study identified whether depressive symptoms are associated with older adults' sarcopenia risks.

This nationally representative study in Taiwan investigated the older adult population ( ≥ 65 years) using a telephone survey conducted between 2019 and 2020.

Self-reported data obtained included depressive symptoms (5-item from Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale), sarcopenia risks (SARC-F questionnaire), and individual characteristics. The generalized additive models were used to examine the nonlinear associations between depressive symptoms and the risk of sarcopenia.

A total of 1,068 older Taiwanese adults (72.15 ± 5.71 years; 52.7% women) participated in the survey. In the unadjusted model, the results showed a significant nonlinear association between high scores on the CES-D and sarcopenia scores (p < .001). Even after adjusting for covariates (sex, age, residential areas, education, marital status, working status, living status, smoking, drinking, and BMI), it still showed a significant non-linear association (p < .001).

The results indicated that depressive symptoms were nonlinearly related to older adults' sarcopenia risks. Interventions or programs aiming to alleviate depression can be an effective strategy to prevent sarcopenia in the older adult population.