Study on depression-free life expectancy in the elderly population in China

The Elderly are at increased risk of certain mental health conditions, particularly anxiety, dementia-related disorders, and depression.

Data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2011-2020 were used, comprising 2,185 participants. The multi-state life table method was applied to estimate life expectancy (LE) according to depression severity, stratified by gender and Hukou status. Z-test was used to analyze whether the differences in depression-free life expectancy (DFLE) among different genders and Hukou status were significant (p<0.05).

At age 65 in 2020, the LE of Chinese Elderly was 25.39 years, with 61.5% (15.61 years) depression-free. LE for mild and moderate-to-severe depression were 6.19 and 3.59 years, respectively. Men had an LE of 24.91 years, with a DFLE of 16.91 years (67.9%), while women had a higher LE of 25.81 years but a lower DFLE of 14.30 years (55.4%). The SDLE and MDLE of females were 7.05 years and 4.47 years, respectively, which were higher than those of males at 5.29 years and 2.71 years. The LE of urban elderly was 26.47 years, with a DFLE of 18.04 years (68.2%), both of which were higher than those of rural elderly, whose corresponding values were 24.74 years and 14.23 years (57.5%), respectively. Rural elderly had an MDLE of 6.47 years and an SDLE of 4.04 years, both higher than the corresponding values for urban elderly (MDLE 5.70 years; SDLE 2.73 years).

Compared with their rural counterparts, urban elderly experience longer, higher-quality Lives, Likely due to better access to mental health resources..Although women live longer than men, they experience shorter DFLE, potentially indicating higher psychological burden or gender-specific health disparities. Moderate-to-severe depression significantly increased mortality risk, with lower recovery rates, especially after age 80, when health declined sharply.