Mediating effect of social support between depressive symptoms and sarcopenia in the elderly
Objective To explore the relationship between depressive symptoms,social support and sarcopenia in the elder-ly,and to test the mediating effect of social support between depressive symptoms and sarcopenia.Methods A total of 1 040 elderly people were investigated with the general information questionnaire,geriatric depression scale-5,social support rating scale and strength,assistance with walking,rise from a chair,climb stairs and falls.Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the rela-tionship between depressive symptoms,social support and sarcopenia.Multiple stepwise regression analysis and AMOS26.0 were used to construct a structural equation model and verify the mediating effect of social support between depressive symptoms and sarcopenia.Results The elderly's social support score was(39.65±6.73)scores,including objective support was(9.94±2.76)scores,sub-jective support(21.55±3.96)scores,and support utilization was(8.17±1.97)scores;26.35%of the elderly had depressive symptoms and 16.25%had sarcopenia.The mediating effect of social support was 0.068(95%CI:0.047-0.209),accounting for 25.37%of the total effect.Conclusion Depressive symptoms in the elderly are an important influencing factor of sarcopenia.Social support plays a partial mediator role between depression and sarcopenia.Improving social support in the elderly is an effective way to re-duce sarcopenia.