Exploring depressive symptoms in Peruvian older adults living in extreme poverty: A network analysis study

Objective

This study aimed to identify the most central depressive symptoms among Peruvian older adults living in extreme poverty and to assess whether the symptom network differs by age groups ad living places.

Methods

The data was collected in 2012 from the Survey of Health and Well-being of the Elderly by the INEI. The probabilistic sample was selected through a two-stage selection process, targeting households in 12 departments characterized by high poverty levels. Respondents were aged between 65 and 80 years and resided in both urban and rural areas (N = 3228). The network was estimated using the Ising model, which is appropriate for binary data. Node centrality was evaluated using the Strength index within the network and invariance was evaluated via permutation tests.

Results

The analysis identified dissatisfaction with life and sadness as the most central nodes, underscoring their critical influence within the depressive symptom structure. The robustness of these findings was confirmed by the precision and stability of the network in the bootstrapping procedures. Moreover, no significant differences were found when comparing networks by age groups and living places.

Conclusion

Life dissatisfaction and sadness consistently dominated the depressive symptom network among older adults living in extreme poverty, and the network structure remained invariant across age groups and living places.