Objective To systematically review the prevalence of depression in rural Chinese population aged 60 and above from 2010 to 2023. MethodsThe CNKI、WanFang Data、VIP、CBM、PubMed、Embase and Cochrane Library databases were electronically searched to collect cross-sectional studies on the prevalence of depression of elderly populations in rural China from January 2010 to March 2023. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of the included studies. Meta-analysis was then performed using Stata 17.0 software. ResultsA total of 23 cross-sectional studies with a total sample of 34 916 cases and 11 308 depression patients were included. The meta-analysis results showed that the prevalence of depression in rural Chinese population was 31.02% (95%CI 26.10% to 36.16%). Subgroup analysis showed that the prevalence was higher among females than males; the GDS-30 scale had the highest detection rate, followed by the CES-D-10 and GDS-15 scales; the prevalence was higher in the Midwest than in the East; and the prevalence was higher in surveys conducted after 2015 than in 2015 and before. In addition, the prevalence of depression was higher in the rural elderly population aged 70 and above, non-married, illiterate or semi-literate, with poor self-rated health status, living alone, in poor economic status, with chronic diseases, and with low social activity. ConclusionThe prevalence of depression is high among the rural elderly population in China, and there are significant disparities in the prevalence of different characteristics of the elderly. These differences should be given more attention to improve the mental health of the rural elderly population. Due to the limited quantity and quality of the included studies, more high-quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusion.
ObjectiveTo analyze the prevalence, regional differences, and influencing factors of depression in the middle-aged and elderly population aged 45 years and above in China. MethodsData were obtained from the latest survey data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2020, and the CES-D-10 scale was used to assess depression among respondents, and χ2 test and binary logistic regression were used to screen for the influencing factors of depression. ResultsA total of 10 583 valid samples were included, with 47.7% males and 52.3% females, and the mean age was (65.3±8.0) years. The average CES-D-10 scale score of the study population was (9.11±6.53), and the prevalence rate of depression was 40.5% (95%CI 39.6% to 41.5%), with a significantly higher prevalence rate of depression in the Midwestern population than the Eastern population. The gender, age, living with a partner, education, region, urban/rural, duration of sleep, internet access, alcohol consumption, number of chronic diseases, and the presence of ADL and IADL disorders are the influencing factors of depression in middle-aged and elderly populations. ConclusionThe prevalence of depression in the middle-aged and elderly population in China is high, but there are significant differences in the prevalence rates of populations with different characteristics, and the high-risk groups should be emphasized when improving the mental health of the middle-aged and elderly population.