Association of Body Fat With Health-Related Quality of Life and Depression in Nonagenarians: The Mugello Study

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jamda.2019.01.128
• Publication Date: 2019-03-07T04:31:05Z
• Authors: Silvia Giovannini; Claudio Macchi; Rossella Liperoti; Alice Laudisio; Daniele Coraci; Claudia Loreti; Federica Vannetti; Graziano Onder; Luca Padua; Guglielmo Bonaccorsi; Roberta Boni; Chiara CastagnolI; Francesca Cecchi; Francesca Cesari; Francesco Epifani; Roberta Frandi; Betti Giusti; Maria Luisa Elian...; Rossella Marcucci; Raffaello Molino-...; Anita Paperini; Lorenzo Razzolini; Francesco Sofi; Nona Turcan; Debora Valecchi
• Keywords: Aged, 80 and over; Male; Depression; Health Status; 16. Peace & justice; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; Cross-Sectional Studies; 0302 clinical medicine; Adipose Tissue; Socioeconomic Factors; Body fat percentage; depression; nonagenarians; physical activity; Nursing (all)2901 Nursing (miscellaneous); Health Policy; Geriatrics and Gerontology; Activities of Daily Living; Quality of Life; Humans; Female; Obesity; Body fat percentage; depression; nonagenarians; physical activity;; Aged

The association of body fat with health status and depression in the oldest old is still debated. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to investigate the association of body fat with health-related quality of life and depression in a sample of nonagenarians.Data are from the Mugello study, a community-based project conducted in Italian older adults aged 90 years.Total body fat was assessed by body impedance assessment. Participants were divided into 3 groups according to gender-specific tertiles of body fat percentage (BF%). Self-perceived mental and physical health status were assessed by the Mental Component Summary (MCS) and the Physical Component Summary (PCS) subscales derived from the 12-item Short Form Health Survey. Lower scores of MCS and PCS indicated poorer mental health and physical health status, respectively. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale, and a score ≥5 was used to identify participants with depression.The mean age of 251 study participants was 92.5 years, and 173 (68.9%) were women. Participants were included in the low (n = 83), medium (n = 83), and high (n = 85) BF% groups. In the whole sample, mean scores at PCS progressively declined with the increasing BF% group (P = .004). This association was stronger in women, although no significant interaction was observed between the gender and BF% group (P = .63). No significant association between BF% and MCS was documented. Medium and high BF% were associated with a significantly higher probability of depression as compared with low BF% [odds ratio (OR) 2.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04-4.44, and OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.06-4.34, respectively]. This association was stronger in women, although no significant interaction was observed between gender and BF% group (P = .70).High BF% is significantly positively associated with poor health-related quality of life and depression, underpinning the clinical relevance to test BF% in older adults. These associations appear to be stronger in women than in men, highlighting the need to investigate deep inside this gender discrepancy.