title: Depression and Frailty in Late Life: Evidence for a Common Vulnerability.
abstract: The study purpose is to estimate the correlation between depression and competing models of frailty, and to determine to what degree the comorbidity of these syndromes is determined by shared symptomology.
  
  
  
  Data come from the 2010 Health and Retirement Study. Analysis was limited to community-dwelling participants 65 and older (N = 3,453). Depressive symptoms were indexed by the 8-item Centers for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CESD) scale. Frailty was indexed by 3 alternative conceptual models: (a) biological syndrome, (b) frailty index, and (c) functional domains. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to estimate the correlation between depression and each model of frailty.
  
  
  
  Each of the 3 frailty latent factors was significantly correlated with depression: biological syndrome (ρ = .68, p < .01), functional domains (ρ = .70, p < .01), and frailty index (ρ = .61, p < .01). Substantial correlation remained when accounting for shared symptoms between depression and the biological syndrome (ρ = .45) and frailty index (ρ = .56) models.
  
  
  
  Results indicate that the correlation of frailty and depression in late life is substantial. The association between the two constructs cannot be fully explained by symptom overlap, suggesting that psychological vulnerability may be an important component of frailty.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, White Plains, New York. mal2073@med.cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lohman
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioral Health and.
authors.forename: Levent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dumenci
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, Division of Epidemiology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond.
authors.forename: Briana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mezuk
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male
keywords: Depression; Factor analysis; Frailty