Socioeconomic disadvantage increases risk of prevalent and persistent depression in later life

Abstract

Background: Depression is more frequent in socioeconomically disadvantaged than affluent neighbourhoods, but this association may be due to confounding. This study aimed to determine the independent association between socioeconomic disadvantage and depression. Methods: We recruited 21,417 older adults via their general practitioners (GPs) and used the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to assess clinically significant depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 10) and major depressive symptoms. We divided the Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage into quintiles. Other measures included age, gender, place of birth, marital status, physical activity, smoking, alcohol use, height and weight, living arrangem..