Association between Sarcopenia and Depressive Symptoms in Community-Dwelling People Aged 40 Years and Older

Association between Sarcopenia and Depressive Symptoms in Community-Dwelling People Aged 40 Years and Older

Alena Zakharova,^1,2 Keiko Kabasawa,³ Yumi Ito,³ Junta Tanaka,³ Aya Hinata,¹ Kaori Kitamura,¹ Yumi Watanabe,¹ Shoichiro Tsugane,⁴ Kazutoshi Nakamura¹ and Ichiei Narita^3,5

¹Division of Preventive Medicine, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Niigata, Japan
²Department of Public Health and Health Care, Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Professor V.F. Voyno-Yasenetsky, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
³Department of Health Promotion Medicine, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Niigata, Japan
⁴National Institute of Health and Nutrition, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Tokyo, Japan
⁵Division of Clinical Nephrology and Rheumatology, Kidney Research Center, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Niigata, Japan

Several studies have reported an association between sarcopenia and depression. Their results, however, are inconsistent, partly due to small sample sizes and lack of consideration of important confounders. The present study aimed to cross-sectionally examine this association in community-dwelling people in Japan. This study used baseline data from the Yuzawa cohort study (age ≥ 40 years), with the final analysis population comprising 2,466 participants. A self-administered questionnaire was used to elicit information related to sarcopenia, depressive symptoms, demographic characteristics, anthropometrics, disease history, and lifestyles. Sarcopenia was diagnosed using SARC-F, a validated questionnaire including components of Strength, Assistance in walking, Rising from a chair, Climbing stairs, and Falls. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the 11-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). For depressive symptoms, prevalence ratios (PRs) were calculated, and odds ratio (ORs) were obtained using simple and multiple logistic regression analyses. Mean age of participants was 61.7 years (standard deviation = 11.8), and 10.5% and 34.7% had sarcopenia and depressive symptoms, respectively. Sarcopenic individuals had a significantly higher PR (2.00), unadjusted OR (3.67), and adjusted OR (4.96) compared to non-sarcopenic individuals, with an estimated adjusted PR of 2.7. There was a significant dose-dependent association between SARC-F scores and depressive symptoms in sarcopenic individuals (adjusted P for trend = 0.0028). In conclusion, sarcopenia and depressive symptoms were robustly associated in community-dwelling, middle-aged and older people in Japan. However, the direction of this association is unclear, and a future cohort study will be needed to determine causality.

Keywords —— cross-sectional studies; depression; middle-aged people; older people; sarcopenia

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med 2022, 257, 117-125.

Correspondence: Keiko Kabasawa, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Health Promotion Medicine, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 1-757 Asahimachi-dori, Chuo-ku, Niigata, Niigata 951-8510, Japan.

e-mail: keikoyk@med.niigata-u.ac.jp