Yanling Qi, Chenghe Zhang, Mei Zhou, Ruiyuan Zhang, Yuxiao Chen, Changwei Li
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The burden of depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older Chinese during the COVID-19 pandemic is unclear, and the contribution of social media use to depressive symptoms in this population has not been studied. To address the gaps, we analyzed data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, nationally representative biannual surveys among adults aged ≥45 years. Social media use and depressive symptoms were measured in the 2018 and 2020 surveys. We tested longitudinal associations between baseline (2018) social media activities and risk of depressive symptoms in two years among 9121 participants without depressive symptoms. We also evaluated whether social media activity could reduce depressive symptoms during this period among 5302 individuals with depressive symptoms at baseline. Depressive symptoms affected 36·0% of this population in 2020. Women, individuals living in rural areas, and residents of western China provinces were particularly affected. Among participants without depressive symptoms, engaging in social media activities at baseline was associated with a 24.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 10-36%) lower likelihood of developing depressive symptoms over the next two years. Among depressed participants, compared to individuals not using social media, those initiating three or more social media activities during this period had 1.24 (95% CI: 1.05-1.46) times higher chance of becoming non-depressed, and those using social media all the time were 1·36 (95% CI: 1·09-1·72) times more likely to become non-depressed. In conclusion, middle-aged and older Chinese adults have a substantial burden of depressive symptoms, and social media activities may help to prevent and reduce the symptoms.
期刊介绍:
Psychiatry has suffered tremendously by the limited translational pipeline. Nobel laureate Julius Axelrod''s discovery in 1961 of monoamine reuptake by pre-synaptic neurons still forms the basis of contemporary antidepressant treatment. There is a grievous gap between the explosion of knowledge in neuroscience and conceptually novel treatments for our patients. Translational Psychiatry bridges this gap by fostering and highlighting the pathway from discovery to clinical applications, healthcare and global health. We view translation broadly as the full spectrum of work that marks the pathway from discovery to global health, inclusive. The steps of translation that are within the scope of Translational Psychiatry include (i) fundamental discovery, (ii) bench to bedside, (iii) bedside to clinical applications (clinical trials), (iv) translation to policy and health care guidelines, (v) assessment of health policy and usage, and (vi) global health. All areas of medical research, including — but not restricted to — molecular biology, genetics, pharmacology, imaging and epidemiology are welcome as they contribute to enhance the field of translational psychiatry.