The association between healthy eating and dietary quality index with depression among the elderly in Shiraz

Background and purpose: Depression is one of the significant and common disorders in the elderly. Considering that nutrition plays a crucial role not only in the onset but also in the severity and duration of the depressive episode, the aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) as an alternative indicator of healthy eating and the dietary quality score with depression in the elderly residents of Shiraz. Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study on 80 older adults living in Shiraz, information regarding people's dietary intake was gathered with a 147-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Adherence to healthy eating patterns was assessed using HEI. Diet quality was assessed by DQI-I, which includes four main components of the diet. For evaluating depression, the Beck Depression test was used. The association between food indices and depression was assessed by linear regression in two crude and adjusted models. Results: Of the 80 people studied, 50% were women. The mean and standard deviation of the age of the studied subjects were 66.18±5.67 and 65.18±6.9 years, respectively. The relationship between the diet quality index and depression score showed an inverse and significant relationship, so an increase in the diet quality index was associated with a decrease in depression score (beta coefficient: -0.281 and P=0.036). This index remained significant after adjusting for age, gender, level of education, body mass index, and energy (P= 0.049). Conclusion: The findings of the current study revealed that Adhering to a diet with higher DQI-I had an inverse association with the risk of depression in the elderly. Further research is needed, especially prospective studies, to confirm these findings in Middle Eastern societies.