Forskning

June 26, 2019

Intake of coffee is associated with decreased depressive symptoms among elderly Japanese women: a multi-center cross-sectional study

Y Kimura et al, 2019. Intake of coffee is associated with decreased depressive symptoms among elderly Japanese women: a multi-center cross-sectional study, Journal of Epidemiology, published online.

ABSTRACT:

Background: Depression in elderly people is a major global concern around the world. Epidemiological evidence of the association of beverages with depressive symptoms has received research attention; however, epidemiological studies on the association of coffee and green tea with depressive symptoms for the elderly population are limited. The objective of this study is to cross-sectionally examine the association of depressive symptoms with the intake of coffee, green tea and caffeine and to verify the antidepressant effect of caffeine.

Methods: The subjects were 1992 women aged 65-94 years. Intakes of coffee, green tea and caffeine as well as depressive symptoms were assessed with a validated brief dietary history questionnaire (BDHQ) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for depressive symptoms with adjustments for potential confounders.

Results: Coffee intake was associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms, the ORs of which for the 4th vs. the 1st quartiles of intake was 0.64 (95% CI 0.46-0.88, P for trend = 0.01) in a fully adjusted model. Caffeine intake was marginally associated with depressive symptoms, but the association was not statistically significant (OR = 0.75; 95% CI 0.55-1.02, P for trend = 0.058).

Conclusion: The result suggests that the inverse association on depressive symptoms might be expected not only caffeine intake but also some other substances in coffee or factors related to coffee intake. Because of its cross-sectional design, longitudinal studies are required to confirm the present finding.