Objective: Our aim of this study was to investigate the association between fish consumption and depressive symptoms in senior ethnic Chinese residents of Singapore.
Design: A population-based cross-sectional study.
Setting: The Singapore Longitudinal Aging Studies (SLAS).
Participant: The study consisted of 2,034 participants from the Singapore Longitudinal Aging Studies (SLAS) project who were at least 55 years old.
Measurements: The presence of depressive symptoms was compared between those who self-reported eating fish at least three times a week versus those who ate fish less often. A score of 5 or greater on the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) was the cutoff for being designated as having depressive symptoms.
Results: Fish intake was associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms ([odds ratio] OR = 0.60, 95% [confidence interval] CI 0.40-0.90; P = .015) after controlling for age, sex, marital status, housing, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical exercise, social and productive activities, self-rated health, hypertension, diabetes, heart failure or attack, stroke, fruit and vegetable intake, and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that eating fish at least three times a week is associated with a lower odds of having depressive symptoms among Chinese adults over 55 years old living in Singapore.