Associations of Pulmonary Function with Dementia and Depression in an Older Korean Population.
OBJECTIVE
Previous studies reported an association between pulmonary function and cognitive function. However, not much has been investigated in this regard concerning dementia in a community population, taking depression into account. We aimed to examine the associations of pulmonary function with dementia and depression in a community-dwelling elderly population.


METHODS
A total of 1,038 participants were evaluated for dementia and depression using the Korean version of the Geriatric Mental State Schedule B3 (GMS B3-K), the Community Screening Interview for Dementia-Korean version (CSID-K) and a modified 10-item Word List Learning from the Consortium to Establish a Registry of Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD). Pulmonary function was measured as forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) from a forced expiratory maneuver.


RESULTS
Prevalence rates of dementia and depression were 11.0% and 10.4%, respectively. Individuals who were diagnosed with dementia manifested a lower mean FEV1, as compared to those without dementia after adjusting for potential confounders, including disability and depression [OR=1.34 (1.05-1.72)]. Following gender-stratified analysis, the association was only statistically significant in women [OR=1.40 (1.04-1.89)]. The association between depression and mean FEV1 was less significant compared to dementia [OR=1.32 (1.10-1.58)]. However, the association was no longer significant after adjusting for age and years of education. No association was significant in the gender-stratified analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Decreased pulmonary function was associated with dementia status only in an older female Korean population. Pulmonary function and depression were not significantly associated in either gender.
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Suelin
S
Yoon
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Jae-Min
JM
Kim
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Hee-Ju
HJ
Kang
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Kyung-Yeol
KY
Bae
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Sung-Wan
SW
Kim
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Il-Seon
IS
Shin
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Jin-Sang
JS
Yoon
Dementia; Depression; Disability; Forced expiratory volume; Pulmonary function