Relationship Between Activities Of Daily Living And Mental Health In The Elderly

In Japan, about 30,000 people a year commit suicide. Approximately 30% of the suicides are elderly people. Depression is considered to be one of factors leading to suicide. Recently, it is reported that physical activity or physical exercise improves depression or mental health. However, the relationship between the activities of daily living and the mental health of Japanese community-dwelling elderly is unclear. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to estimate the relationship between the activities of daily living and the mental health of the elderly. METHODS: We carried out a cross-sectional study. One hundred and sixty-three aged people (male, n=51, mean (standard deviation) 76(4)yr, female, n=112, 75(6)yr) volunteered. We used a functional fitness test which we developed for the evaluation of the daily living activities in the elderly. The mental health index we used was GDS (Geriatric Depression Scale) and SF-36. Partial correlation analysis (age) was done to examine the relationships among those indices. RESULTS: A significant relationship between the functional fitness and GDS was found in males (r = −0.539,P < 0.01). No significant relationship between the functional fitness and the indices of mental health were shown in females. CONCLUSIONS: The activities of daily living were shown to be associated with the mental health in Japanese elderly males. In the future, comprehensive research is required to clarify the causal relation between the activities of daily living and the mental health in the elderly.