Table 2 Baseline characteristics of participants by trajectories of depressive symptoms
Characteristic | Persistently low symptoms | Increasing symptoms | Decreasing symptoms | Persistently high symptoms | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Age, years | 56.6 (7.8) | 55.6 (7.5) | 55.8 (7.6) | 56.3 (7.7) | 0.005 |
Male, n (%) | 2152 (60.3) | 257 (40.7) | 303 (41.5) | 76 (28.6) | < 0.001 |
Rural, n (%) | 2664 (74.6) | 508 (80.5) | 605 (82.9) | 234 (88.0) | < 0.001 |
Married, n (%) | 3351 (93.9) | 586 (92.9) | 681 (93.3) | 229 (86.1) | < 0.001 |
Educational level, n (%) | < 0.001 | ||||
  < Primary school | 839 (23.5) | 213 (33.8) | 231 (31.6) | 121 (45.5) |  |
 Primary school | 947 (26.5) | 160 (25.4) | 182 (24.9) | 77 (28.9) |  |
 Middle school | 1105 (31.0) | 169 (26.8) | 225 (30.8) | 54 (20.3) |  |
  ≥ High school | 678 (19.0) | 89 (14.1) | 92 (12.6) | 14 (5.3) |  |
Household income, n (%)a | < 0.001 | ||||
 Low | 983 (27.5) | 229 (36.3) | 260 (35.6) | 116 (43.6) |  |
 Medium | 1121 (31.4) | 171 (27.1) | 236 (32.3) | 83 (31.2) |  |
 High | 1237 (34.7) | 179 (28.4) | 185 (25.3) | 51 (19.2) |  |
Smoker, n (%) | 1645 (46.1) | 217 (34.4) | 277 (37.9) | 80 (30.1) | < 0.001 |
Drinker, n (%) | 1717 (48.1) | 243 (38.5) | 284 (38.9) | 91 (34.2) | < 0.001 |
Cognition scores | 15.9 (4.3) | 14.9 (4.3) | 14.6 (4.3) | 13.6 (4.0) | < 0.001 |
Depression scores | 7.9 (3.4) | 11.2 (4.3) | 13.7 (4.1) | 16.5 (4.7) | < 0.001 |
Depression symptoms, n (%) | 1007 (28.2) | 401 (63.5) | 610 (83.6) | 251 (94.4) | < 0.001 |
Multimorbidity, n (%) | 1110 (31.1) | 260 (41.2) | 338 (46.3) | 151 (56.8) | < 0.001 |
Mobility limitation, n (%) | 1842 (51.6) | 423 (67.0) | 557 (76.3) | 217 (81.6) | < 0.001 |
Subjective memory, n (%) | < 0.001 | ||||
 Poor | 736 (20.6) | 208 (33.0) | 292 (40.0) | 135 (50.8) |  |
 Fair | 1927 (54.0) | 327 (51.8) | 329 (45.1) | 94 (35.3) |  |
 Excellent/very good/good | 906 (25.4) | 96 (15.2) | 109 (14.9) | 37 (13.9) |  |