Type of tea consumption and depressive symptoms in Chinese older adults

Abstract

Background Existing research indicates that tea drinking may exert beneficiary effects on mental health. However, associations between different types of tea intake and mental health such as depression have not been fully examined. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of green tea, fermented tea, and floral tea consumption with depressive symptoms. Methods We used data from the 2018 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, a nationwide survey on older adults in mainland China. A total of 13,115 participants (mean age 83.7 years, 54.2% were women) with valid responses were included in the analysis. The type (green, fermented [black, Oolong, white, yellow, dark, and compressed teas], and floral) and the frequency of tea consumption were recorded, and depressive symptoms were assessed using 10-item of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10). We examined the associations between the type and the frequency of tea intake and depression, controlling for a set of demographic, socioeconomic, psychosocial, behavioral, and health-related variables. Results Overall, intakes of green tea, fermented tea, and floral tea were all significantly associated with lower prevalence of depressive symptoms, independent of other risk factors. Compared with the group of no tea intake, the adjusted ORs of depressive symptoms for daily green tea, fermented tea, and floral tea intake were 0.85 (95% CI: 0.76–0.95), 0.87 (95% CI: 0.76–0.99), and 0.70 (95% CI: 0.59–0.82), respectively. Linear associations were observed between the frequencies of all three types of tea intake and depressive symptoms (P < 0.05 for trends for all three types). The associations of the type and the frequency of tea intake and depressive symptoms were robust in several sensitivity analyses. Conclusions Among Chinese older adults, regularly consumed any type of tea (green, fermented, or floral) were less likely to show depressive symptoms, the associations seemed more pronounced among floral tea and green tea drinkers.

Less Social Participation Is Associated With a Higher Risk of Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese Older Adults: A Community-Based Longitudinal Prospective Cohort Study

“…We scored the responses of “rarely,” “on some days” (1–2 days), “occasionally” (3–4 days), and “most of the time” (5–7 days) as 0, 1, 2, and 3, respectively, after we reversely coded the responses to two positive questions—“I was happy” and “I felt hopeful about the future.” The total range of CES-D-10 scores is 0–30, with higher scores indicating a greater severity of depressive symptoms. The well-validated cutoff value is 10 in measuring depressive symptoms among Chinese older populations ( 8 , 37 ); therefore, participants with a score ≥ 10 on the CES-D-10 were considered to have depressive symptoms.…”

“…The dependent variables were depressive symptoms measured using the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) (36). This scale is a widely used survey tool to measure depressive symptoms among Chinese older adults, with good validity and reliability (8,27,(37)(38)(39)(40). All items are rated on a four-point scale, from "rarely" to "on some days" (1-2 days), "occasionally" (3-4 days), or "most of the time" (5-7 days).…”

“…The total range of CES-D-10 scores is 0-30, with higher scores indicating a greater severity of depressive symptoms. The well-validated cutoff value is 10 in measuring depressive symptoms among Chinese older populations (8,37); therefore, participants with a score ≥ 10 on the CES-D-10 were considered to have depressive symptoms.…”

“…In the context of the disease burden owing to depression among older people in China, behavioral interventions might have tangible benefits for health and wellbeing at older ages. To date, studies have shown that dietary factors (less alcohol consumption and more tea consumption), sufficient sleep, and more social participation have key roles in preventing depression among older adults ( 5 , 8 ). Social participation is defined as the involvement of people in activities either voluntarily or mandatorily in formal or informal social groups ( 9 ).…”

Prevalence and Correlates of Risky Drinking Among the Oldest-Old in China: A National Community-Based Survey

“…BMI was divided into four groups according to the Asian criteria: underweight-BMI < 18.5 kg/m 2 , normal weight-BMI > 18.5 to 23 kg/m 2 , overweight-BMI between 23–24.9 kg/m 2 , and obesity-BMI > 25 kg/m 2 ( 19 ). Depressive symptoms were divided into two groups with a cutoff of 10 on the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) ( 20 ). An anxious state was divided into two groups using the cutoff 10 of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) ( 21 ).…”