DEPRESSION, DIABETES AND METABOLIC-NUTRITIONAL FACTORS IN ELDERLY HISPANICS

Objective: To examine the relationship of depression to metabolic and nutritional risk factors in older Hispanics. Design: Crossectional study. Setting: Subjects were part of a community-based, cognitive evaluation project that examined 301 subjects in the Eastern San Fernando Valley of Southern California. Participants: Two elderly Hispanic groups: 53 clinically depressed, with memory complaints but not demented subjects, and 33 generally healthy, cognitively asymptomatic subjects. Measurements: The results of functional and nutritional questionnaires, a medical and neurological examination, 12-hour fasting clinical laboratory tests, MRI or CT scans, and neuropsychological testing. Results: Both groups were nearly identical along socio-demographic variables. However, the depressed group differed significantly from the general healthy group not only in percent of diabetics (38% vs.18%), but in the amount of poorly controlled diabetes, and the depressed group consumed about half the amount of fish that the generally healthy group did. Conclusions: This study suggests that factors such as poorly controlled diabetes combined with low consumption of foods high in omega-3 fatty acid content such as sea fish may be associated with an increased risk of developing depression in late life. These factors may be socio-economically and culturally influenced and are therefore amenable to modification.