THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT BODY COMPOSITION TYPES AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN OLDER ADULTS

Objectives: To examine the association between diffe­rent body composition types and depressive symptoms in the elderly.

Patients and methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed in outpatient clinic based in Vil­nius and included community dwelling men and women aged ≥65 years. The exclusion criteria were: moderate and severe cognitive impairment, acute illness, and dis­eases with advanced organ failure. Criteria for diagnosis of sarcopenia, proposed in 2018 by the European Wor­king Group on Sarcopenia in Older People were used in this study. Muscle strength was assessed by handgrip strength. Muscle mass was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (iDXA, GE Lunar, USA). Phy­sical performance was evaluated by short physical per­formance battery. Obesity was defined if the percentage of body fat measured by DXA. Sarcopenic obesity was determined if both sarcopenia and obesity were present. Depressive symptoms were examined using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS).

Results: We analyzed data of 246 study participants: 87 men (35.4%) and 159 women (64.6 %) aged 65 years or older. According to body composition, participants were categorized in to four groups: obesity (46.7 %), normal (37 %), sarcopenia (8.9 %), sarcopenic obesity (7.3 %). Out of all participants 91 (37 %) scored <5 on the GDS, 106 participants (43.1 %) scored between 5 and 10 points and 49 participants (19.9 %) scored >10 on the GDS. Regression analysis showed when body composition changes from normal (no sarcopenia and no obesity) to sarcopenia then GDS score increases by 5.5 points. When body composition changes from normal to sarcopenic obesity then GDS score increases by 4.4 points. No as­sociation was found between body composition change (normal to obese) and GDS score.

Conclusion: Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity were re­lated to increased risk of depressive symptoms.