Depressive symptoms in the elderly and its relationship with chronic pain, chronic diseases, sleep quality and physical activity level

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Depressive symptoms are often experienced by the elderly, being a public health problem. The objective of this study was to verify the relation between depressive symptoms and the presence and intensity of chronic pain with sleep quality and physical activity level. METHODS: Research with 385 aged residents in a municipality of Santa Catarina. The Morais adapted questionnaire, the numerical visual pain scale, and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire were used to assess the level and volume of physical activity, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Geriatric Depression Scale. Data analysis by the Mann-Whitney U test, Chi-square (X2) and Spearman’s correlation. RESULTS: Of the 385 aged evaluated, 30.6% had depressive symptoms. Older people who had depressive symptoms complained more of pain, poor sleep quality and had less physical activity (p=0.001). The X2 values between chronic pain, sleep quality and physical activity level with presence and absence of depression symptoms were 25.078, 27.707 and 9.009, respectively (p<0.05), and the correlation between depressive symptoms and sleep quality was 0.423 (p