The role of internet use between ADL disability and depressive symptoms in Chinese middle-aged and older adults:...

We aimed to explore the role of internet use between ADL disability and depressive symptoms onset and the effect of age on association mentioned above.

The participants who are 45 years old and above from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were included in the 2018 baseline and 2020 follow-up research. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association between ADL disability in 2018 and depressive symptoms in 2020. Interaction testing and stratified analyses were used to assess the role of internet use between them.

There were 6784 subjects included in the study and 1503 (22.2 %) participants developed depressive symptoms in follow-up. ADL disability was associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms in all participants after adjusting for all covariates (OR: 1.530, 95 %CI: 1.301, 1.797). This association remained in participants not using the internet (OR: 1.532, 95 %CI: 1.294, 1.811), but this association was not found in participants using the internet (OR: 1.242, 95 %CI: 0.638, 2.290). In addition, the role of internet use varied by age groups. Internet use may attenuate the association between ADL disability and depressive symptoms in middle-aged adults and younger older adults, but not in older adults aged 70 years and above.

ADL disability positively associated with depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older adults and internet use may attenuate the association between them especially in middle-aged and younger older adults.