Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T15:13:42.345Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A comparison of Geriatric Depression Scale scores in older Australian and Japanese women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2016

K. E. Campbell ,
L. Dennerstein ,
M. Tacey ,
N. Fujise ,
M. Ikeda  and
C. Szoeke
K. E. Campbell*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
L. Dennerstein
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
M. Tacey
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Melbourne EpiCentre, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
N. Fujise
Affiliation:
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan
M. Ikeda
Affiliation:
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan
C. Szoeke
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
*
*Address for correspondence: K. E. Campbell, Clinical Sciences Building, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Level 4, Room 408, Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3050, Australia. (Email: katherine.campbell.psy@gmail.com)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Aims:

The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of depressive symptoms in Australian and Japanese populations of community-dwelling older women using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). In addition, the relationship between lifestyle and health factors and higher ratings of depressive symptoms was also examined to determine if there were culturally consistent risk factors associated with higher depressive symptom scores.

Methods:

A total of 444 community based women aged between 65 and 77 years completed a depressive symptom measure (GDS-15) and provided information on common lifestyle factors. The Australian sample (n = 222) were drawn from the Women's Healthy Ageing Project and the age-matched, Japanese sample from the Kumamoto Ageing Study of Mental Health (n = 222). The GDS was chosen to; (1) reduce the impact of physical symptoms associated with old age and, (2) reduce the inflation in scores that may result from the Japanese tendency to endorse somatic items more often than Western adults.

Results:

Mean GDS total scores were significantly higher for the Japanese population 3.97 ± 3.69 compared with 1.73 ± 2.7 for Australian women. The percentages of women scoring in the normal; mild and moderate ranges for depression were 91, 7 and 2% for Australia and 67, 24 and 9% for Japan. Scores remained significantly higher for the Japanese cohort when controlling for lifestyle and health factors associated with depression. The analysis of lifestyle and health characteristics showed that the greatest difference between cohorts was in the area of living status, with more Australian women living with their partner and more than three times as many Japanese women living with their children. When the data for the countries was considered independently employment status affected the likelihood of higher depression scores in the Australian sample while heart disease and poor sleep impacted the risk for the Japanese population.

Conclusions:

Significantly more Japanese women scored within the mild and moderate ranges on the GDS compared with their Australian peers, even when controlling for possible confounding factors. Of the lifestyle and health factors assessed in this analysis no single variable was a common risk factor for higher depressive scores for both countries. The presence of cultural influences that may impact the risk of experiencing depressive symptoms, and culture specific patterns of item endorsement on depressive symptom measures, needs to be explored in more detail.

Keywords

Cross-cultural comparisondepressiongeriatric psychiatrywomen's health
Type
Original Articles
Information
Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , February 2017 , pp. 70 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abe, Y, Fujise, N, Fukunaga, R, Nakagawa, Y, Ikeda, M (2012). Comparisons of the prevalence of and risk factors for elderly depression between urban and rural populations in Japan. International Psychogeriatrics 24, 1235–1241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aihara, Y, Minai, J, Aoyama, A, Shimanouchi, S (2011). Depressive symptoms and past lifestyle among Japanese elderly people. Community Mental Health Journal 47, 186–193.Google Scholar
Arnault, D, Sakamoto, S, Moriwaki, A (2006). Somatic and depressive symptoms in female Japanese and American students: a preliminary investigation. Transcultural Psychiatry 43, 275–286.Google Scholar
Atalay, K, Barrett, GF (2015). The impact of age pension eligibility age on retirement and program dependence: evidence from an Australian experiment. Review of Economics and Statistics 97, 71–87.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011). Deaths, Australia, cat. no. 3302.0. Retrieved 10 June 2013 from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/lookup/3302.0Media%20Release12011.Google Scholar
Baldwin, R (2008). Mood disorders: depressive disorders. In Oxford Textbook of Old Age Psychiatry, 4th edn (ed. Jacoby, R, Oppenheimer, C, Dening, T and Thomas, A), pp. 529–556. Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Beekman, A, Copeland, J, Prince, M (1999). Review of community prevalence of depression in later life. The British Journal of Psychiatry 174, 307–311.Google Scholar
Blazer, D (2003). Depression in late life: review and commentary. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 58, M249–M265.Google Scholar
Colasanti, V, Marianetti, M, Micacchi, F, Amabile, G, Mina, C (2010). Tests for the evaluation of depression in the elderly: a systematic review. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 50, 227–230.Google Scholar
Cole, M, Dendukuri, N (2003). Risk factors for depression among elderly community subjects: a systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry 160, 1147–1156.Google Scholar
Dennerstein, L, Lehert, P, Dudley, E, Guthrie, J (2001). Factors contributing to positive mood during the menopausal transition. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases 189, 84–89.Google Scholar
Haralambous, B, Lin, X, Dow, B, Jones, C, Tinney, T, Bryant, C (2009). Depression in Older Age: A Scoping Study, pp. 1–42. Melbourne: National Ageing Research Institute. Retrieved August 2012 from https://www.beyondblue.org.au/docs/default-source/research-project-files/bw0143---nari-2009-full-report---minus-appendices.pdf?sfvrsn=4.Google Scholar
Hashizume, Y (2000). Gender issues and Japanese family-centered caregiving for frail elderly parents or parents-in-law in modern Japan: from the sociocultural and historical perspectives. Public Health Nursing 17, 25–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Honda, A, Date, Y, Abe, Y, Aoyagi, K, Honda, S (2014). Work-related stress, caregiver role, and depressive symptoms among Japanese workers. Safety and Health at Work 5, 7–12.Google Scholar
Iwata, N, Buka, S (2002). Race/ethnicity and depressive symptoms: a cross-cultural/ethnic comparison among university students in East Asia, North and South America. Social Science & Medicine 55, 2243–2252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iwata, N, Saito, K, Roberts, RE (1994). Responses to a self-administered depression scale among younger adolescents in Japan. Psychiatry Research 53, 275–287.Google Scholar
Iwata, N, Roberts, CR, Kawakami, N (1995). Japan-US comparison of responses to depression scale items among adult workers. Psychiatry Research 58, 237–245.Google Scholar
Karasawa, M, Curhan, KB, Markus, HR, Kitayama, SS, Love, GD, Radler, BT, Ryff, CD (2011). Cultural perspectives on aging and well-being: a comparison of Japan and the United States. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development 73, 73–98.Google Scholar
Kessler, R (2003). Epidemiology of women and depression. Journal of Affective Disorders 74, 5–13.Google Scholar
Kitayama, S, Markus, HR, Matsumoto, H, Norasakkunkit, V (1997). Individual and collective processes in the construction of the self: self-enhancement in the United States and self-criticism in Japan. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 72, 1245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kitayama, S, Markus, HR, Kurokawa, M (2000). Culture, emotion, and well-being: good feelings in Japan and the United States. Cognition & Emotion 14, 93–124.Google Scholar
Kohyama, J (2011). Sleep, serotonin, and suicide in Japan. Journal of Physiological Anthropology 30, 1–8.Google Scholar
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2014) Statistical Handbook of Japan 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014 from http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/handbook/c02cont.htm.Google Scholar
Muraoka, Y, Ikuchi, S, Ihara, K (1996). The physical and psychological and social background factor of elderly depression in the community. Japanese Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 7, 397–407.Google Scholar
Murata, C, Kondo, K, Hirai, H, Ichida, Y, Ojima, T (2008). Association between depression and socio-economic status among community-dwelling elderly in Japan: the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES). Health & Place 14, 406–414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nicholson, A, Kuper, H, Hemingway, H (2006). Depression as an aetiologic and prognostic factor in coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis of 6362 events among 146 538 participants in 54 observational studies. European Heart Journal 27, 2763–2774.Google Scholar
O'Connell, H, Chin, A, Cunningham, C, Lawlor, B (2004). Recent developments: suicide in older people. BMJ: British Medical Journal 329, 895–899.Google Scholar
Okamoto, K, Harasawa, Y (2011). Prediction of symptomatic depression by discriminant analysis in Japanese community-dwelling elderly. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 52, 177–180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olin, J, Schneider, L, Eaton, E, Zemansky, M, Pollock, V (1992). The Geriatric Depression Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory as screening instruments in an older adult outpatient population. Psychological Assessment 4, 190.Google Scholar
Radford, M, Nakane, Y, Ohta, Y, Mann, L, Kalucy, R (1989). A study of depression in two cultures: a transcultural study with Japanese and Australian clinically depressed patients. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 43, 119–132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rugulies, R (2002). Depression as a predictor for coronary heart disease: a review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 23, 51–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Szoeke, C, Robertson, J, Rowe, C, Yates, P, Campbell, K, Masters, C, Ames, D, Dennerstein, L, Desmond, P (2013). The Women's Healthy Ageing Project: fertile ground for investigation of healthy participants ‘at risk’ for dementia. International Review of Psychiatry 25, 726–737.Google Scholar
Tanaka, H, Sasazawa, Y, Suzuki, S, Nakazawa, M, Koyama, H (2011). Health status and lifestyle factors as predictors of depression in middle-aged and elderly Japanese adults: a seven-year follow-up of the Komo-Ise cohort study. BMC Psychiatry 11, 20–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wada, T, Ishine, M, Sakagami, T, Okumiya, K, Fujisawa, M, Murakami, S, Otsuka, K, Yano, S, Kita, T, Matsubayashi, K (2004). Depression in Japanese community-dwelling elderly – prevalence and association with ADL and QOL. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 39, 15–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wada, T, Ishine, M, Sakagami, T, Kita, T, Okumiya, K, Mizuno, K, Rambo, T, & Matsubayashi, K (2005). Depression, activities of daily living, and quality of life of community-dwelling elderly in three Asian countries: Indonesia, Vietnam, and Japan. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 41, 271–280.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2014). World Health Statistics 2014. WHO Document Production Service: Switzerland.Google Scholar
Yesavage, J, Brink, T, Rose, T, Lum, O, Huang, V, Adey, M, Leirer, V (1983). Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. Journal of Psychiatric Research 17, 37–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yesavage, J, Brink, T, Rose, T (2000). Geriatric depression scale (GDS). In Handbook of Psychiatric Measures (ed. Rush, AJ), pp. 544–546. American Psychiatric Association: Washington.Google Scholar