Muscle Strength Moderates the Relationship between Nutritional Health Risk and Depression in Korean Older Adults.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Nutritional Science
• Mental Health Research

Background:

• Limited understanding of the interplay between muscle strength, nutritional status, and late-life depression.
• Focus on Korean older adults to explore these relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the moderating role of lower-extremity muscle strength.
• To examine its effect on the association between nutritional health risk and depression in older Korean adults.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 5949 women and 3971 men (≥ 65 years) from the 2020 Korea Longitudinal Study on Aging.
• Assessed lower-extremity muscle strength via a modified sit-to-stand test.
• Evaluated nutritional health risk using a screening tool and depression with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS).

Main Results:

• Depression showed a significant positive association with nutritional health risk (p < 0.001).
• Depression was inversely associated with lower-extremity muscle strength (p < 0.001).
• Lower-extremity muscle strength significantly moderated the relationship between nutritional health risk and depression (p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• Weaker muscle strength intensifies the negative impact of nutritional health risk on depression.
• Suggests a combined intervention targeting nutritional risk and muscle weakness for depression management in older adults.