This study aimed to investigate the moderation of social support in the association between loneliness and depression in different age groups of older adults. The sample consisted of 1532 community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older, based on the data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), Wave 3 (2015–2016). Eleven items of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) were used to measure depressive symptoms. Similarly, a four-item scale was used to measure social support (each from spouse and family), and a three-item scale for loneliness. The results were as follows. Loneliness was associated with depression in both the young-old and the old-old groups. Spousal support and family support were associated with reduced depression in the young-old group, whereas only spousal support was associated with relieving depression in the old-old group. Social support had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between loneliness and depression in the old-old group, whereas it had no significant effect in the young-old group. From these results, it can be concluded that spousal support plays a significant role in seniors’ mental health. The role of caregivers for a person’s well-being grows later in life, so practitioners could help couples communicate with this consideration. In addition, regular contacts with family members and spousal support are recommended to prevent older old adults’ depression.

This study aimed to complement the previous studies conducted within a short period of time by examining the long-term trends in depression levels of older adults through a longitudinal study that includes the period following the onset of COVID-19. For analysis, this study used the data from the 12th (2017) through 16th (2021) Korea Welfare Panel Study, and 2,716 data of older adults 65 years and older were included. Variables included gender, age, equalized annual income (USD $), education background, residential area, living alone and disability status. As a result, two types of changes in depression were identified: the 'rapidly rising' type and the 'steadily increasing'. We found that the lower the equalized annual income, women, the lower the education, living in urban and living alone showed a higher likelihood of belonging to the 'rapidly rising' type. The result suggests that those at risk of depression are at much higher risk during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also necessary to provide timely and effective guidelines to prevent depression in older adults when implementing policies in response to an outbreak of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19.

Objective The purpose of this study is to identify the types of pain changes that affect older Koreans, as well as their effects on depressive symptom.Methods We analyzed the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging data collected from 2010 to 2018. A data of total of 1,359 participants, aged 65 or older were used to estimate the change in pain. A latent growth model and growth mixture modeling were performed to estimate the overall change in pain and to categorize the types of pain changes.Results The pain changes of older adults were classified into two categories: low-stable and high increasing. The depressive symptom showed a stronger relationship among the high-increasing type of pain than the low-stable type. The high-increasing type had a higher percentage of females, lower income, relatively low educational attainment, and a higher percentage of rural residents than the low-stable type.Conclusion The significance of this study is that it reiterated the importance of early pain diagnosis and intervention by identifying the types of pain changes in older adults and analyzing their effects on depressive symptoms. Therefore, it is especially important to pay attention to interventions that are designed to help vulnerable groups with a high risk of pain obtain effective pain management.

Using data on causes of death(suicide) among older Korean women using data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) from 2006 to 2020, we examined changes in depression levels among 405 women over a period of three years or more to examine the association between depression and suicide. The results of the authors' analysis indicate two primary depression trajectories: "maintaining" pattern (89.1%) and "rising" pattern (10.9%). The maintaining pattern showed a higher income compared to the rising pattern, and the rising pattern showed a higher proportion of residents living in urban areas, while the depression trajectories did not significantly influence suicide risk among older adults. In other words, the pattern of depression trajectory did not predict suicide risk. Despite the complexity of the relationship between depression and suicide in older adults, we emphasize the importance of comprehensive research and prevention strategies that take into account more than just depression.

Background: Recently, the fine dust problem caused by rapid industrialization and science and technological development has emerged as a severe social issue worldwide. This also increases the interest in its effect on human life. In particular, there is a growing concern about the harm of fine dust in Korea. Methods: This study is based on the PM 2.5 data from 2017 to 2021 provided by Air Korea to estimate changes in ultrafine dust. In addition, the data from the Community Health Survey provided by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) from 2017 to 2021 were used to examine the effect between the change in ultra-fine dust and the prevalence of depression. A total of 229 local governments were included in the analysis. The Latent Growth Modeling was carried out to estimate the change in ultra-fine dust and the prevalence of depressions and verify the relationship between ultra-fine dust and the prevalence of depression. Results: The analysis result revealed that the ultra-fine dust concentration continued to decrease from 2017 to 2021. However, the depression prevalence increased from an average of 2.60% in 2017 to an average of 3.12% in 2021, suggesting the need for adequate and sufficient welfare policies for depression treatment. As a result of estimating the initial value and change rate of ultra-fine dust and depression prevalence, the higher the initial value of ultra-fine dust, the greater the decrease in ultra-fine dust. In terms of depression, the lower the initial value of the prevalence of depression, the larger the increase in depression prevalence. Conclusions: This study is significant in that it revealed the strong association of the longitudinal relationship between ultra-fine dust and depression, one of the biggest issues in Korea, by utilizing large-scale longitudinal data.