title: Depression, quality of life (QoL) and will to live of community-dwelling postmenopausal women in three Asian countries: Korea, China and Japan.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of screening-detected depression and the association of depression with QoL in community-dwelling postmenopausal women living in three Asian countries. We examined self-reported questionnaires and conducted the study. A total of 698 community-dwelling postmenopausal women living in three Asian countries participated in this study. The mean age was 59.4±6.6 years (±SD) Depressive symptoms were assessed using a 15-item geriatric depression scale (GDS-15). Using the cut-off of 5/6 for the GDS-15, the percentages of subjects with depression were 39.0% of the Korean subjects, 29.2% of the Chinese subjects, and 33.9% of the Japanese subjects. For the assessment of QoL, we used the EQ-5D of the EuroQoL Group. The following five dimensions were assessed: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. The proportions of subjects reporting problems for each dimension were examined. Subjects with depression had significantly lower levels of some dimensions of QoL than those without depression in all three countries. In all three countries, 29.2-39.0% of community-dwelling postmenopausal women had screening-detected depression, which was significantly associated with a lower level of some dimensions of QoL. These results suggest that clinicians should pay more attention to depression in community-dwelling postmenopausal women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsuruma-cho 65, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ina
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: Asako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ishitsuka
authors.forename: Hisako
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: Akihisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iguchi
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000523:psychology; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000523:psychology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012648:Self Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires