Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108CH APTER 1 27 Data for 2002 suggest that the prevalence of severe depression for men and women combined is approximately 15 percent within each 10-year age category between ages 55 and 84 (Figure 1-5) and approaches 20 percent for the 85 and older group. For all of the age groups, women are consistently more likely than men to report severe depressive symptoms. HRS longitudinal data can help address an im- portant question about the correlation between depression and physical health: Do disease and disability lead to depression, or does depression lead to disease and disability? Blaum (1999) found that depressive symptoms are precur- sors to the development of future disease. As expected, physical limitations (e.g., the inability to walk several blocks, climb stairs, or lift a 10-pound object) were the strongest predic- tors of developing a new disease 2 years later, increasing the odds of developing at least one new disease by nearly 50 percent. At the same time, participants age 70 and older who report- ed having several symptoms of depression were one-third more likely than others to develop a new disease within 2 years. The effect was seen with relatively mild depressive symptoms, such as decreased energy and restless sleep, as well as with more severe clinical depression. Stopping driving is one activity of daily living that appears to be associated with increased depres- sive symptoms. An analysis of a 6-year period of early HRS data showed that older people who stopped driving were 1.4 times more likely to experience worsening depressive symptoms than those who continued to drive after the 6 years (Fonda et al. 2001). Longer-term restrictions on driving further increased the risk of depressive symptoms. Having a spouse who still drove did not significantly affect the respondents’ depres- sive symptoms. FIG. 1-4 SEvere cognitive limitation, by age and gender: 1998 Note: Definition of severe cognitive impairment: Errors on half or more of 9 very easy items from a standard geriatric screen for mental status for self-respondents; IQCODE score of 3.9 or higher on Jorm proxy assessment. Source: HRS 1998. Men Women Total 70-74 65-69 60-64 55-59 51-54 75-79 80-84 85+ 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% FIG. 1-5 severe depressive symptoms, BY AGE: 2002 Total Men Women 55-64 65-74 75-84 85+ 0% 5% 10% 15% 20%