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Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: OBJECTIVE, METHODS, RESULTS. Meshes: Aged, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Manitoba, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Rural Population, Urban Population.
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Does a rural residence predict the development of depressive symptoms in older adults? Context: We sought to determine whether adults aged 65 years or older living in rural areas who are without depressive symptoms have a lower risk of developing depressive symptoms over 5 years than their urban counterparts, and to determine the factors that predict the development of depressive symptoms in older adults in rural and urban areas. We conducted a secondary analysis of an existing data set, the Manitoba Study of Health and Aging (MSHA.) We studied a population-based random sample of 807 people without depressive symptoms or cognitive impairment who were residing in Manitoba communities in 1991/92 and 5 years later in 1996/97. We defined "rural" as a census subdivision with a population of less than 20,000, and "urban" as a population of 20,000 or greater. The MSHA investigators measured depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale, using the standard cut-point of 16 or more. Participants reported their age, sex, education, self-rated health, and functional status at the time of their first interview. Of adults aged 65 years or older living in urban areas, 13.3% developed depressive symptoms, versus 8.9% of those living in rural regions (p = 0.047). In multivariate analyses, a rural residence was not associated with the development of depressive symptoms. In rural areas, factors predicting depressive symptoms were female sex and poor self-rated health at the time of the first interview.
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A rural residence is only weakly protective for the development of depressive symptoms over 5 years, and this association was not seen after we accounted for potential confounding variables. As well, these results underscore the strong association between poor health and depressive symptoms.