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Background: Depression has been linked to a large and growing economic and societal burden worldwide. In Europe, depression is one of the most frequent mental disorders across all age groups, but particularly in people aged 65 years and over, and higher depressive symptoms have been reported among individuals with chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes and heart disease)., Aim: To evaluate the role of adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) in depression in a sample of older people living in the Mediterranean basin., Methods: Standard procedures were used to determine socio-demographic, lifestyle, and clinical characteristics of the participants, as well as their dietary habits, and depressive symptoms were evaluated using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Multi-adjusted logistic and linear regression analyses were carried out to evaluate the associations between participants' characteristics and depression., Results: Participants classified as having mild or severe depression were less educated and physically active, and more diabetic, and they reported less adherence to the MedDiet. Adherence to the MedDiet was associated with the absence of depression [(OR, 95% CI): 0.65, 0.50-0.85]. In addition, daily tea drinking was also related to the absence of depression [(OR, 95% CI): 0.51, 0.40-0.65]., Conclusions: Greater adherence to the MedDiet and daily tea drinking seem to have a beneficial effect on depressive symptoms in older adults., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Data regarding the factors associated with depressive symptoms are limited, especially in postmenopausal women. The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent depressive symptoms were present in postmenopausal women, to explore characteristics associated with depressive symptoms and to determine if time since menopause was independently associated with depressive symptoms. Data collected within the Mediterranean Islands (MEDIS) Study, a health and nutrition survey of elderly people living on Mediterranean islands was used. A total of 851 postmenopausal women living in various Greek islands, Cyprus, and Malta participated in the study. Depressive symptoms were evaluated using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Age-adjusted logistic regression analysis showed that a year's increase in the time since menopause increased the likelihood of postmenopausal women having severe depressive symptoms by 3% (odds ratio [OR] per 1 year = 1.03, 95% CI 1.001-1.05). This positive association was also evident when other potential confounding factors (i.e, living conditions, financial status, physical activity, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, smoking habits, and several clinical conditions) were also taken into account in multivariable analyses. Primary health care practitioners and public health care authorities could use the findings of this study to identify depressive symptoms early in postmenopausal women.

Aims: To evaluate factors associated with depression in elderly., Methods: During 2005-2007, 553 men and 637 women (aged 65 to 100 yrs) living in various Greek islands and in Cyprus participated in the study. The sampling was random and multistage (according to age sex distribution of the referent population). Depressive symptoms were evaluated using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS)., Results: Twenty five per cent of men and 35% of women were classified in the highest GDS category (i.e. GDS score > 10), indicating intense depressive symptoms, while 54% of men and 70% of women scored above the depression cut-off (i.e. GDS score > 5) indicating mild-to-severe depressive symptoms. Among the investigated characteristics, living in urban environment, physical inactivity and history of hypertension were correlated with the presence of depressive symptoms (p < 0.05), after adjusting for various confounders. Moreover, the consumption of fish, vegetables and cereals is more prevalent among people with low or moderate depression (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: The prevalence of depression is quite high between elderly people living in Greek islands and Cyprus. Urban environment that may also interact with sedentarism and unhealthy dietary habits seems to promote depression in the studied population. Efforts to lower the prevalence of depression in the elderly should target on the aforementioned factors that employ functional impairment, social environment and dietary habits.

Objectives. This work aims at exploring the association between fish intake and depressive symptoms, in older adults. Method. During 2005-2007, 1,190 men and women (>65 years) free living in various Greek islands and in Cyprus participated in the study. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the validated Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and foods intake through a Food Frequency Questionnaire. Results. Almost 70% of the participants scored above the depressive cutoff (i.e., GDS score > 5), with women having higher values. People classified under the 1st tertile of GDS score (i.e., GDS

Background: Hypercholesterolemia is one of the most important factors causing cardiovascular disease (CVD). The aim of the present work was to evaluate the relationships between socio-demographic, clinical, lifestyle and depression status and the presence of hypercholesterolemia, among elderly individuals without known CVD., Methods: During 2005-2007, 1190 elderly (aged 65 to 100 years) men and women (from Cyprus, Mitilini, Samothraki, Cephalonia, Crete, Lemnos, Corfu and Zakynthos) were enrolled. Socio-demographic, clinical and lifestyle factors were assessed through standard procedures. Symptoms of depression were evaluated using the short-form of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS, range 0-15). Dietary habits were assessed through a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Hypercholesterolemia was defined as total serum cholesterol > 200 mg/dL or use of lipids lowering medication., Results: 44.6% of males and 61.9% of females had hypercholesterolemia (p < 0.001). Only, 63% of hypercholesterolemic participants were under special diet or pharmaceutical treatment. Hypercholisterolemic individuals had higher prevalence of obesity (43% vs. 25%), hypertension (76% vs. 57%) and diabetes (25% vs. 17%) compared with normal participants (p < 0.001). Furthermore, hypercholisterolemic participants showed higher depression levels (p = 0.002). After adjusting for various confounders, GDS score and BMI correlated with 13% (95%CI 0.98-1.30) and 14% (95%CI 0.99-1.31) higher likelihood of having hypercholesterolemia., Conclusion: A considerable proportion of our elderly sample had hypercholesterolemia, while 1/3 of them were untreated. Furthermore, presence of hypercholesterolemia was correlated with depressive symptomatology and increased BMI.