Disability and depressive symptoms related to all-cause mortality
Self-rated health, disability and depressive symptoms were independent from each other, and were associated with all-cause mortality in elderly men from Finland, The Netherlands and Italy (the FINE study). After adjustment for the prevalence of chronic diseases severity of disability and depressive symptoms remained related to all-cause mortality.
Combinations of measures also associated with all-cause mortality
For the combination of disability and self-rated health a 3-fold greater mortality risk was observed for men who had severe disability and poor self-rated health compared to the reference group. Men with severe disabilities in the two highest categories of depressive symptoms had also a 3-fold higher mortality risk. These results suggest that for the adequate prognosis of mortality and for developing intervention strategies information is needed on other and different health outcomes.