Correlation of physical activities with depression and the quality of life in elders from urban community in Jining City

Objective To investigate the correlation of physical activities with depression and the quality of life in elders from urban community in Jining city. Methods 482 elders aged ≥60 years from 4 communities were selected using cluster sampling in Jining city. To survey the quality of life and depression status, we used the brief version of World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF), Self-rating Depression Scale, and a self-designed physical activity questionnaire for elders. Results The total rate of depression among 482 elders was 54.36%, among which 46.06% (222/482), 7.88% (38/482) and 0.41% (2/482) were mild, moderate and severe depression, respectively. The result of multivariate analysis showed that the main influencing factors for depression were duration for every physical activity (β=-2.167), monthly income (β=-2.661), times for physical activity every week (β=-2.826), educational level (β=1.694), occupation (β=-3.337) and exercise intensity (β=-1.112). The main influencing factors for the quality of life were duration for every physical activity (β=4.302), times for physical activity every week (β=3.036), monthly income (β=2.114), educational level (β=-2.160), occupation (β=4.324) and gender (β=2.356). There was a negative correlation between the depression score and the total score and scores of different fields of the quality of life in elders from urban community (all P<0.05). Conclusions Regular physical exercise was an important factor to improve the depression and life of quality among aged people.