Relationships Between Functional Impairment, Depressive Symptoms, and Ageing Attitudes in Older Adults

Background/Objectives: Negative attitudes towards ageing, depressive symptoms, and impairment in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) are associated with worse health outcomes in older adults, including increased risk of dementia. Little is known about the longitudinal impact of depressive symptoms and functional impairment on ageing attitudes in older people. Identifying the relationships between these risk factors may help inform interventions targeting early dementia. The aim of this study was to determine whether depressive symptoms and functional impairment are associated with ageing attitudes over 6 years. Methods: Participants included 172 community-dwelling adults aged 76-96 years without dementia from the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study who were followed up over 6 years. Multiple linear regression models were used to examine prospective relationships between depressive symptoms, IADL (informant-reported or performance-based) and ageing attitudes. Results: After adjusting for potential confounding variables, more baseline depressive symptoms were associated with more negative ageing attitudes towards physical change (B = -0.10, 95%CI -0.18 to -0.02, p = 0.021) and psychological growth (B = -0.09, 95%CI -0.17 to -0.01, p = 0.037), and worse informant-reported IADL was associated with more negative ageing attitudes towards psychosocial change (B = -0.36, 95%CI -0.64 to -0.09, p = 0.010) over 6 years. Conclusions: The results highlight the importance of assessing and treating depressive symptoms and functional decline in older people, as they are significantly associated with negative attitudes about the ageing process, a known risk factor of worse health outcomes, including dementia.