Physical activity: A primary health quality determinant among community-dwelling geriatric women in Taiwan

Objective: To investigate the associations between frailty, physical activity and depression in community-dwelling geriatric women. Design: A cross-sectional research design. Setting: Community geriatric women in Illan County, Taiwan. Study participants: Of note 216 participants, 65 years and older with full mobility, independent and able to communicate in Mandarin or Taiwanese Hokkien. Main Outcome Measures: An average weekly physical activity score International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF) and Taiwan Geriatric Depression Scale. Classification and regression tree (CART) analysis was used to perform decision analysis. Results: The average IPAQ-SF score for the 216 participants was 9109.52. When an IPAQ-SF score of 4452 or below was obtained by participants, 38% of them encountered depression-like syndromes, regardless of their frailty status. Diabetes, high risk of metabolic syndrome and lower education were the risk factors found to cause depression among participants with low physical activity levels. Conclusions: As women have a longer life expectancy and experience twice the rates of depression of men particularly after menopause, healthcare providers should emphasize exercise and lifestyle changes in order to improve the quality of health in geriatric women.