Relationship between Nutritional Status and Late-Life Depression in Esfarayen, Iran

Introduction: Since nutritional status has a great impact on physical and mental health, this study was conducted to determine the relationship between nutritional status and depression in elderly referring to urban health centers of Esfarayn, North Khorasan province, Iran) in 2017. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 250 elderly referring to Esfarayen health centers. Data collecting tool was a standard questionnaire for investigating nutritional and depression status in the elderly. Data were analyzed using ANOVA, t-test, chi-square and correlation coefficient by SPSS18 software. Results: According to the results, 8.4% of elderly were malnourished and 30% were exposed to malnutrition. There was an inverse correlation between age, number of children and nutritional status, and there was a significant relationship between living alone, underlying diseases, body mass index and nutritional status (p < 0.05). Forthy four percent of the elderly had severe depression and 40% had mild depression. Significant relationship was found between variables such as age, gender, education, economic status, living alone, underlying diseases and depression (p < 0.05). There was a significant correlation between depression and nutritional status in the elderly (p <0.001, r = -0.615). Conclusion: Depression is prevalent among elderly, and their nutritional status is in moderate level. Regarding the correlation between these two variables, periodical psychiatric examinations, psychological interventions with the aim of treating depression as well as educational measures to improve the nutrition statues of the elderly is necessary.