title: Association between depression and socio-economic status among community-dwelling elderly in Japan: the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES).
abstract: This study investigated the prevalence of depression by area and socio-economic status (SES). Study participants were 32,891 Japanese elderly aged 65 and over who responded to a postal survey conducted in 15 municipalities in 2003. Depression was assessed using a short version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). SES was measured using years of education and income adjusted for family size. After adjustment for age, illness, higher level of activities of daily living, sex, marital status, and self-rated health, depression was still significantly associated with lower SES and residential area. Further research should also examine the area effect on health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Higashi-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 431-3192, Japan. cmurata@hama-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Chiyoe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.forename: Katsunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: Yukinobu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ichida
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ojima
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003863:Depression / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005853:Geriatrics; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D011177:Postal Service; D015995:Prevalence; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires