Higher Serum Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate Levels Are Protectively Associated with Depressive Symptoms in Men, But Not in Women: A Community-Based Cohort Study of Older Japanese

Serum Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate and Incident Depression in the Elderly: The Pro.V.A. Study

“…Two studies, in fact, did not find any association between serum DHEAS levels and risk of depression, 5,30 whereas another two studies found an association only in men. 18,20 The differences between our study and others with negative findings may be explained by methodologic issues. First, we used the 30-item GDS for detection of depression, and the diagnosis was confirmed by geriatricians skilled in psychogeriatric medicine, whereas in other studies shorter forms of the GDS or other tools (like the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) were used alone.…”

“…For continuous variables, normal distributions were tested using the Shapiro-Wilk test. Because previous research has shown that serum DHEAS levels significantly differ between genders and there is a significant sex by DHEAS level interaction for the onset of depression, 3,13,18,20 we tested if a similar interaction exists in our study using a Cox's regression analysis. Because this interaction was significant, all data analyses were made using gender-specific tertiles of baseline DHEAS.…”

“…Also, blood parameters that previous research has shown to be related to depression (fasting plasma glucose and cholesterol) were included in this work. 20 Fasting plasma glucose was measured with hexokinase glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (Dimension Vista System; Siemens, Milan, Italy). Total cholesterol was calculated using the enzymatic method.…”

Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms and Activity of Daily Living Dependence in Older Japanese: The Kurabuchi Study

“…The Kurabuchi Study is a community‐based cohort study of aging that started in 2005 and involves functional assessment of an elderly population in Kurabuchi Town, Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture, which is approximately 100 km north of Tokyo, Japan. In 2005 and 2006, we targeted all residents aged 65 and older who were not hospitalized or bedridden (n = 1,294) and administered a baseline survey to 834 of them (64.5%) at eight town community centers after obtaining written informed consent . There were no substantial demographic differences between the total eligible population and those who participated in the baseline health examinations; those aged 80 and older accounted for 28.2% of the total population and 26.4% of participants, and women accounted for 54.7% of the total population and 58.3% of participants .…”

“…In 2005 and 2006, we targeted all residents aged 65 and older who were not hospitalized or bedridden (n = 1,294) and administered a baseline survey to 834 of them (64.5%) at eight town community centers after obtaining written informed consent. [15][16][17] There were no substantial demographic differences between the total eligible population and those who participated in the baseline health examinations; those aged 80 and older accounted for 28.2% of the total population and 26.4% of participants, and women accounted for 54.7% of the total population and 58.3% of participants. 18 For the purposes of this study, we excluded residents who were already ADL dependent at baseline (7 residents with low Katz Index of Independence in ADL (Katz ADL) scores and 22 residents who were institutionalized) and those whose living circumstances or marital status were unknown (n = 36).…”