Mood Emot.  2018 Nov;16(3):169-177. 10.0000/me.2018.16.3.169.

Impact of Eating-Alone on Depression in Korean Female Elderly : Findings from the Sixth and Seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2014 and 2016

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Konkuk University, Chung-ju, Korea. sjs52632@hanmail.net

Abstract


OBJECTIVES
Despite the lack of domestic research, eating alone has been reported to be related to depression. We investigated correlation between eating alone, and depression, among women age 65 and older.
METHODS
Among women registered in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, 1,119 elderly in 2014, and 1,189 in 2016, were analyzed. Eating alone and the degree of depression were assessed, using a questionnaire and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 respectively. The relationship between eating alone and depression, was analyzed using multilevel logistic regression.
RESULTS
In 2014 data, eating alone had significant effect on depression, as the explanatory power is increased to 30.4% in a "˜three meals eating alone a day' group (β=0.128, p < 0.05), when the eating alone parameter is added to demographic factors and health characteristics. In 2016, exploitation of "˜the frequency of eating alone' variable led to increment of explanatory power to 22.3%, that was not statistically significant.
CONCLUSION
The result of this study suggests that eating alone among women age 65 and older, was a risk factor of depression in 2014, and is becoming a new life pattern as a social and cultural phenomenon in 2016.

Keyword

Depression; Eating-alone; Female elderly

MeSH Terms

Aged*
Demography
Depression*
Eating
Female*
Humans
Korea*
Logistic Models
Meals
Nutrition Surveys*
Risk Factors
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