The relationship between functional physical fitness, depressive symptomatology, and chronic illness in older adults

Depression has been identified as the most common psychiatric disorder in older adults. Researchers have linked chronic illness to depressive symptomatology in older adults. There are no studies that have examined the relationship between functional physical fitness and depressive symptomatology. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between functional physical fitness and depressive symptomatology among adults aged 60 and over, as well as to examine the relationship between chronic physical illness and depressive symptomatology. A secondary purpose was to determine if measures of functional physical fitness assessment could be used as a viable predictor of depressive symptomatology, and whether inclusion of chronic illness influenced this prediction. One hundred thirty-six independently living older adults were recruited for participation. The Older Americans Resources and Services Physical Health Subscale was used to assess chronic illness. The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale was used to assess depression. Functional physical fitness was assessed with a test battery from the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. The results of a one-way analysis of variance and Bonferroni's post-hoc test to examine group differences demonstrated a significant difference in depressive symptomatology between high and low functional physical fitness groups for the functional physical fitness parameter, coordination. The results of a one-way analysis of variance demonstrated a significant difference in depressive symptomatology for chronic illness levels. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that the four functional physical fitness variables, flexibility, coordination, agility/balance, and strength/endurance, accounted for.156 of the explained variance of depressive symptomatology. With the addition of chronic illness the total explained variance was.226. The two significant predictors of depression were coordination and chronic illness. This indicated that lower levels of functional physical fitness and higher levels of chronic illness increased the older adults' risk of depression. Future research may be directed toward a prospective study investigating the relationship between functional physical fitness and depressive symptomatology in older adults.