title: Active aging is associated with low prevalence of depressive symptoms among Brazilian older adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Active aging is the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security, aiming to improve quality of life as people age. A series of studies had demonstrated that a lower prevalence of depression is found among more active elderly.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the association between indicators of active aging and depressive symptoms among the elderly (aged 60 years or more).
  
  
  METHODS
  A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted with 1,006 elderly people (aged 60 years or over) from a small-sized Brazilian municipality. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale - 15, with cutoff point ≥ 6 symptoms. Active aging was evaluated using indicators such as: active occupational situation, manual work, reading and physical activities. Data analyses used modified Poisson regression to obtain crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most of the elderly people were: white, women and aged between 60 and 74 years. All the indicators of active aging were associated with the outcome. After controlling for socioeconomic, demographic and health variables, elderly people who worked, participated in groups, did manual work and maintained interests such as reading and talking to friends had lower prevalence of depressive symptoms compared to those not doing these activities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Active aging approaches may serve as a valuable mental health promotion strategy aimed at the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Graduate program in Public Health, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos - São Leopoldo (RS), Brazil.
authors.forename: Rosangela
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Galli
authors.affiliation: Graduate program in Public Health, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos - São Leopoldo (RS), Brazil.|School of Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - Porto Alegre (RS), Brazil.
authors.forename: Emílio Hideyuki
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Moriguchi
authors.affiliation: Associação Veranense de Assistência à Saúde , Hospital Comunitário São Peregrino Lazziozi - Veranópolis (RS), Brazil.
authors.forename: Neide Maria
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Bruscato
authors.affiliation: Graduate program in Public Health, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos - São Leopoldo (RS), Brazil.
authors.forename: Rogerio Lessa
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Horta
authors.affiliation: Graduate program in Public Health, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos - São Leopoldo (RS), Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcos Pascoal
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Pattussi
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence