Rights statement: This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Affective Disorders. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Affective Disorders, 191, 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2015.11.029
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Seasonal and meteorological associations with depressive symptoms in older adults
T2 - a geo-epidemiological study
AU - O' Hare, Celia
AU - O'Sullivan, Vincent Aidan
AU - Flood, Stephen
AU - Kenny, Rose Anne
PY - 2016/2
Y1 - 2016/2
N2 - BackgroundGiven increased social and physiological vulnerabilities, older adults may be particularly susceptible to environmental influences on mood. Whereas the impact of season on mood is well described for adults, studies rarely extend to elders or include objective weather data. We investigated the impact of seasonality and meteorological factors on risk of current depressive symptoms in older adults.MethodsWe used data on 8027 participants from the first wave of The Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing, a population-representative cohort of adults aged 50+. Depressive symptoms were recorded using the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Season was defined according to the World Meteorological Organisation. Data on climate over the preceding thirty years, and temperature and rain over the preceding month, were provided by the Irish Meteorological Service and linked using Geographic Information Systems techniques to participant's geo-coded locations at a resolution of one kilometre.ResultsThe highest levels of depressive symptoms were reported in winter and the lowest in spring (mean 6.56 [CI95% 6.09, 7.04] vs. 5.81 [CI95%: 5.40, 6.22]). In fully adjusted linear regression models, participants living in areas with higher levels of rainfall in the preceding and/or current calendar month had greater depressive symptoms (0.04 SE 0.02; p=0.039 per 10 mm additional rainfall per month) while those living in areas with sunnier climates had fewer depressive symptoms (−2.67 SE 0.88; p=0.003 for every additional hour of average annual daily sunshine).LimitationsThis was a cross-sectional analysis thus causality cannot be inferred; monthly rain and temperature averages were available only on a calendar month basis while monthly local levels of sunshine data were not available.ConclusionsEnvironmental cues may influence mood in older adults and thus have relevance for the recognition and treatment of depression in this age group.
AB - BackgroundGiven increased social and physiological vulnerabilities, older adults may be particularly susceptible to environmental influences on mood. Whereas the impact of season on mood is well described for adults, studies rarely extend to elders or include objective weather data. We investigated the impact of seasonality and meteorological factors on risk of current depressive symptoms in older adults.MethodsWe used data on 8027 participants from the first wave of The Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing, a population-representative cohort of adults aged 50+. Depressive symptoms were recorded using the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Season was defined according to the World Meteorological Organisation. Data on climate over the preceding thirty years, and temperature and rain over the preceding month, were provided by the Irish Meteorological Service and linked using Geographic Information Systems techniques to participant's geo-coded locations at a resolution of one kilometre.ResultsThe highest levels of depressive symptoms were reported in winter and the lowest in spring (mean 6.56 [CI95% 6.09, 7.04] vs. 5.81 [CI95%: 5.40, 6.22]). In fully adjusted linear regression models, participants living in areas with higher levels of rainfall in the preceding and/or current calendar month had greater depressive symptoms (0.04 SE 0.02; p=0.039 per 10 mm additional rainfall per month) while those living in areas with sunnier climates had fewer depressive symptoms (−2.67 SE 0.88; p=0.003 for every additional hour of average annual daily sunshine).LimitationsThis was a cross-sectional analysis thus causality cannot be inferred; monthly rain and temperature averages were available only on a calendar month basis while monthly local levels of sunshine data were not available.ConclusionsEnvironmental cues may influence mood in older adults and thus have relevance for the recognition and treatment of depression in this age group.
KW - Depression
KW - Season
KW - Climate
KW - Geographic Information Systems
KW - Older age/aged
U2 - 10.1016/j.jad.2015.11.029
DO - 10.1016/j.jad.2015.11.029
M3 - Journal article
VL - 191
SP - 172
EP - 179
JO - Journal of Affective Disorders
JF - Journal of Affective Disorders
SN - 0165-0327
ER -