The Association Between Lifestyle Activities and Late-Life Depressive Symptoms

The association between lifestyle activities and incident depressive symptoms was examined within the Women's Health and Aging Study II. Measures of activity and depressive symptoms were collected on four occasions, spanning six-years. Discrete-time Cox proportional hazards models were employed to examine the effects of baseline activity on depressive symptoms over time. Overall, activity was not associated with incident depressive symptoms. When specific activity domains were examined, greater participation in creative activities was associated with a reduced risk of depressive symptoms (hazard ratio = 0.92; CI 95% 0.87, 0.98). Further longitudinal research between diverse activities and incident depressive symptoms is warranted.