Social Network And Depression Status Among Chinese Aged 50 Years And Older

BACKGROUNDChina’s population is rapidly aging.The aging of population was often accompanied by the decline of physical function and mental health,which was easy to cause a variety of mental diseases,including depression.There are many factors that might influence depression in the middle aged and elderly.On the social level,social network might be one of the main influencing factors of depression.OBJECTIVEThis study aimed to describe the depression and social network(including social engagement,social trust and political participation)among Chinese aged 50 years and older,and analyzed the relationship between social network and depression in China.METHODSUsing the “Study on global AGEing and adult health(SAGE)China Wave 1”,subjects aged 50 years and older was selected as the research subjects.The International Classification of Diseases 10 th revision(ICD-10)depression scale and self-reporting was used to evaluate the depression status of the respondents,and the score of social network originated from the comprehensive calculation of social engagement,social trust and political participation.ANOVA test was used to conduct the single factor analysis of social network.Chi-square test was used to compare the prevalence of depression between different groups.All models stratified by age groups,gender and residence,the logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the association between social network and depression.The ROC curve in logistic model was used to evaluate the model effect.Path analysis was used to explore the relationship between social engagement,social trust,political participation and depression under the latent variable model.RESULTOf the 13 177 participants included,the prevalence of depression was 1.76%(95% CI:1.54%-2.00%).Those who were men,aged 80 years and older,lived in rural areas,and had a higher income have a lower risk of depression(P<0.05).The average score of social network was 37.37 ± 4.81,and those who were younger(50～60,60～70),lived in rural areas,men,had higher education or higher income,and married people had a higher score(P<0.05).The logistic model results indicated that social network was significantly associated with depression(OR=0.92,95% CI: 0.89-0.94).The negative associations between social engagement(β=-0.095,P=0.006),social trust(β=-0.176,P<0.001),political participation(β=-0.086,P=0.002)and depression were obtained in the latent variable model.CONCLUSIONThis study found that social network may be one of the influence factor of depression among Chinese aged 50 years and older,indicating that pertinence measures may help prevent depression in middle aged and elderly population by enhancing social network.