Abstract
Geriatric depression is a prevalent and multifactorial condition that can be influenced by domains of frailty and quality of life (QoL) in older adults. In Brazil, there is a lack of studies that explore these factors in an integrated manner within the context of Primary Health Care (PHC). Our objective was to analyze the association between frailty domains, QoL, and geriatric depression among community-dwelling older adults assisted in PHC in urban areas of low population density. A cross-sectional, quantitative study involving 323 older adults registered in PHC units from two Brazilian municipalities. The instruments used were the Edmonton Frail Scale, the Short Form Health Survey, and the Geriatric Depression Scale. Analyses included association tests, Spearman’s correlation, and univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression. There was a strong negative correlation between depression and the physical and mental health domains of QoL, particularly “mental health”. Univariate binary logistic regression indicated that poorer scores in Self-perception of health, Mood, and Functional performance dimensions of Frailty were factors independently associated with depression. However, when evaluated jointly in the multivariate analysis, Self-perception of health and Mood consistently increased the strength of association.
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We especially thank all the patients who agreed to participate in the study, as well as the professionals working in the services involved that made up the study services.
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This research was funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Brazil. Funding was obtained through CNPq/MCTI/FNDCT Call No. 18/2021—Range B—Consolidated Groups, under grant number 0257801662000850. The grant was directed to the general coordinator of the research PhD. Gilson de Vasconcelos Tores to enable the execution of the research. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for the publication of this research was funded by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel—CAPES (ROR identifier: 00 × 0ma614). For open access purposes, the authors have applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to any accepted manuscript version arising from this submission.
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Legend for table S1: R2 de Nagelkerke (Model fit): 0.39; a Unstandardized coefficient;b Model (Enter); Abbreviations: OR: Odds Ratio; CI 95%: Confidence Interval 95%; EFS: Edmonton Frailty Scale. Note: Results were obtained through a single, complete Multivariate Binary Logistic Regression model (Enter method). The dependent variable is the presence of geriatric depressive symptoms (GDS-15 ≥ 5). Nagelkerke R2 = 0.39 indicates the overall model fit, showing the proportion of variance explained by the set of variables included. Adjusted Odds Ratios (aOR) represent the association of each variable while simultaneously controlling for all other predictors and confounding factors in the model. Self-perception of health (aOR: 2.85; 95% CI: 1.45–5.57) and Mood (aOR: 5.53; 95% CI: 2.64–11.60) remained the only factors robustly associated with the outcome after full adjustment (p<0.05). Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
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de Moura, E.F., da Silva Dantas, B.A., Almeida, L.A. et al. Frailty domains and quality of life associated with geriatric depression in Brazilian primary health care: a cross-sectional study. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-50814-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-50814-6
