Current situation of anxiety,depression and cognitive function of the elderly in China and the network analysis of their relationship with quality of life and social participation
XIA Yunhui
CAI Tingting
SHEN Guiqin
MO Hangfeng
SHEN Jiantong
Abstract：Objective:To investigate the occurrence and network structure characteristics of anxiety,depression and cognitive function among Chinese elderly people,and to explore the relationship between anxiety,depression and cognitive function;to use network analysis to explore the direct and indirect relationships between anxiety,depression,cognitive function and quality of life and social participation,in order to provide a theoretical basis for subsequent individualized care and primary care.Methods:Based on the data obtained from the 8th round of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey(CLHLS),7 128 elderly people aged 60 and above were included.A network analysis model was used to construct a comorbidity and bridging network model of anxiety,depression and cognitive function,and the associations between anxiety,depression,cognitive function and quality of life and social participation were analyzed.Results:The comorbidity and bridging network analysis showed that CESD7"feeling happy"had the strongest association with CESD5"feeling hopeful";GAD4"feeling tense"was the core symptom;GAD2"being unable to control worry"had the strongest predictability.In addition,the five bridging symptoms were GAD1"feeling uneasy or worried",MMSE1"general ability",CESD4"feeling useless",MMSE3"attention and calculation ability"and CESD1"feeling troubled".Quality of life had a strong direct negative correlation with four depressive symptoms,and social participation had a strong direct positive correlation with three cognitive abilities.Conclusion:Using network analysis to explore the network of anxiety,depression and cognitive function in the elderly,and identifying the symptoms with strong relationships and high predictability in the network,suggests that in the intervention process,the strong connections between these symptoms should be prevented to improve the intervention efficiency;targeted relief of unease,worry and feeling useless;and intervention measures to improve general ability,attention and calculation ability and other bridging symptoms can effectively alleviate the symptoms of anxiety,depression and cognitive dysfunction in the elderly.In addition,improving the sleep quality of the elderly and enhancing their positive emotions can reduce the negative impact of anxiety,depression and cognitive decline on quality of life,and strengthening the social participation of the elderly can effectively improve their cognitive function.
Keywords：the elderlyanxietydepressioncognitive functionsocial participationquality of lifenetwork analysisnursing
Publication Date：2025-10-10
Online Publishing Date：2025-10-31(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：10( 3969-3978 )