title: Depression Moderates the Frailty-Subjective Health Link among Chinese Near Centenarians and Centenarians.
abstract: Very old adults may be physically frail, but they do not necessarily experience poor subjective health. The authors hypothesized that the relationship between frailty and subjective health is moderated by depression for very old people.
  
  
  
  In a cross-sectional study, a survey administered was by a face-to-face interview to 129 community-dwelling older adults aged 95-108. Measurements included the five-item FRAIL scale, the Geriatric Depression Scale Short-Form (GDS), and a subjective health rating. Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to test the moderation effects, adjusting for age, gender, living arrangement, perceived socioeconomic status, and cognition.
  
  
  
  The interaction effect between frailty and depression was significant. Inspection of the simple slopes revealed that those who were more depressed had a more negative frailty-subjective health relationship. There was no significant moderation effect for a withdrawal-apathy-vigor dimension of the GDS.
  
  
  
  Our findings suggest a protective psychological mechanism may enable very old adults to maintain an optimistic view of their health despite their increasing physical and functional limitations.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Bobo Hi-Po
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Electronic address: jskkwan@hku.hk.
authors.forename: Joseph Shiu-Kwong
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kwan
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work and Social Administration & Sau Po Centre on Ageing, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Karen Siu-Lan
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.affiliation: Human Development and Family Studies, College of Human Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology*; D000073496:Frailty / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D000067656:Optimism / Q000523:psychology; D065840:Protective Factors; D012923:Social Class
keywords: Chinese; centenarians; depression; frailty; subjective health