• Joaquim Oyon, Mateu Serra-Prat, Mariona Ferrer, Antònia Llinares, Núria Pastor, Esther Limón, Tatiana Rejón, Sara Ramírez, and Alba Salietti.
• Primary Care Department, Consorci Sanitari del Maresme, Barcelona, Spain.
• Aten Primaria. 2021 May 1; 53 (5): 102048.

ObjectiveThere is a two-way relationship between frailty and depression, but the mechanisms by which one may influence the other are not well understood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between psychosocial factors and frailty in community-dwelling aged populations with depression.DesignObservational cross-sectional study. SITE: 5 primary care centres.ParticipantsCommunity-dwelling subjects with depression aged ≥70 years.Main MeasurementsFrailty status was established according to Fried criteria, depression and depression severity were evaluated by DSM-IV criteria and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, respectively, and psychosocial factors were assessed using the Gijón Social-Familial Evaluation Scale and ad hoc questionnaires.ResultsRecruited were 338 subjects (mean age 77.2 years), 82% women and 36.1% rated as frail. A dose-response relationship was observed between depression severity and frailty risk. Widowhood was a risk factor for frailty, while a higher educational level, home internet, stairs in the home, and an active social life had a protective effect. A multivariate analysis showed that age, number of drugs, and depression severity were independent risk factors for frailty, while an active social life was a protective factor. The severity of depressive symptoms showed higher association with frailty than other clinical and socio-demographic characteristics.ConclusionsIn depressed elderly subjects, frailty is associated with psychologiocal factors such as the intensity of depressive symptoms and with social factors such as education level, widowhood, loneliness, and limited social life. More research is required to better understand the modifiable psychological risk factors for frailty.Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

23 keywords...

hide…