Associations between self-rated depressive symptoms and quality of life in Finnish males aged 30 to 40

Abstract

Depression is a common and disabling disorder which profoundly affects the quality of life of sufferers. However, few studies have been conducted in young or middle-aged males, although depression and cardiometabolic disorders are considered to be increasingly common in middle-aged males. In our study, three cohorts, each of 1000 males were randomly drawn from the Finnish Population Information System. Approximately one-third (30.5%) participated. Self-rated depressive symptoms were assessed using the 21-item Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI). Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, which comprises three components: frequency of exercise (times per week), intensity of exercise (the nature of the activity) and time devoted to exercise (hours and minutes per day). The different components of quality of life were scrutinized with the RAND 36-item Health Survey (RAND-36). We observed that when assessing the participants, with or without increased depressive symptoms, significant differences were detected for employment and economic status, level of physical activity, the use of alcohol and working ability. Significant reductions in the RAND-36 physical symptoms scores associated with increased depressive symptoms were detected only for the oldest cohort, whereas mental symptom scores were significantly lower in all cohorts for those participants who had increased depressive symptoms. Our data suggest that even moderately increased depressive symptoms significantly affected the mental components of quality of life in all three cohorts aged 30, 35 and 40, and that they affected the physical components significantly in the oldest cohort (males aged 40).