Physical activity and quality of life in older women with a history of depressive symptoms

Physical activity (PA) is positively associated with health-related quality of life (HRQL) in older adults. It is not evident whether this association applies to older adults with poor mental health. This study examined associations between PA and HRQL in older women with a history of depressive symptoms. Participants were 555 Australian women born in 1921–1926 who reported depressive symptoms in 1999 on a postal survey for the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. They completed additional surveys in 2002, 2005 and 2008 that assessed HRQL and weekly minutes walking, in moderate PA, and in vigorous PA. Random effects mixed models were used to examine concurrent and prospective associations between PA and each of 10 HRQL measures (eight SF-36 subscales; two composite scales). In concurrent models, higher levels of PA were associated with better HRQL (p\ua0\ua03 point differences) were evident for physical functioning, general health, vitality and social functioning. For women in their 70s–80s with a history of depressive symptoms, PA is positively associated with HRQL concurrently, and to a lesser extent prospectively. This study extends previous work by showing significant associations in older women with a history of depressive symptoms. Incorporating PA into depression management of older women may improve their HRQL

Physical activity and quality of life in older women with a history of depressive symptoms

Physical activity (PA) is positively associated with health-related quality of life (HRQL) in older adults. It is not evident whether this association applies to older adults with poor mental health. This study examined associations between PA and HRQL in older women with a history of depressive symptoms. Participants were 555 Australian women born in 1921-1926 who reported depressive symptoms in 1999 on a postal survey for the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. They completed additional surveys in 2002, 2005 and 2008 that assessed HRQL and weekly minutes walking, in moderate PA, and in vigorous PA. Random effects mixed models were used to examine concurrent and prospective associations between PA and each of 10 HRQL measures (eight SF-36 subscales; two composite scales). In concurrent models, higher levels of PA were associated with better HRQL (p3 point differences) were evident for physical functioning, general health, vitality and social functioning. For women in their 70s-80s with a history of depressive symptoms, PA is positively associated with HRQL concurrently, and to a lesser extent prospectively. This study extends previous work by showing significant associations in older women with a history of depressive symptoms. Incorporating PA into depression management of older women may improve their HRQL.status: publishe

Physical Activity, Walking, and Quality of Life in Women with Depressive Symptoms

BACKGROUND: Physical activity (PA) has a positive association with health-related quality of life (HRQL) in the general population. The association between PA and HRQL in those with poor mental health is less clear. PURPOSE: To examine the concurrent and prospective dose-response relationships between total PA (TPA) and walking only with HRQL in women aged 50-55 years with depressive symptoms in 2001. METHODS: Participants were 1,904 women born in 1946-1951 who completed mailed surveys for the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health in 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2010, and reported depressive symptoms in 2001. At each time point, they reported their weekly minutes of walking, moderate PA, and vigorous PA. A summary TPA score was created that accounted for differences in energy expenditure among the three PA types. Mixed models were used to examine associations between TPA and HRQL (short form-36 [SF-36] component and subscale scores) and between walking and HRQL, for women who reported walking as their only PA. Analyses were conducted in 2013-2014. RESULTS: Concurrently, higher levels of TPA and walking were associated with better HRQL (p<0.05). The strongest associations were found for physical functioning, vitality, and social functioning subscales. In prospective models, associations were attenuated, yet compared with women doing no TPA or walking, women doing "sufficient" TPA or walking had significantly better HRQL over time for most SF-36 scales. CONCLUSIONS: This study extends previous work by demonstrating trends between both TPA and walking and HRQL in women reporting depressive symptoms.status: publishe

Contribution of house and garden work to the association between physical activity and well-being in young, mid-aged and older women

OBJECTIVE: Although physical activity occurs in leisure, transport, occupational and domestic domains of life, the contribution of house and garden work (HGW) to the association between total physical activity and well-being is not clear. The aim was to describe the contribution of HGW to total physical activity (TPA) in association with well-being in younger, mid-aged and older women. DESIGN: Younger (25-30 years), mid-aged (50-55 years) and older (76-81 years) participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health completed a mailed survey with questions about leisure, transport and house and garden activities. Well-being was assessed using the physical and mental components scores of the SF-36. Cross-sectional associations between the physical activity variables and well-being were modelled using General Additive Modelling. RESULTS: Correlations between HGW and leisure/transport activity (LTA) were low (r<0.3, p<0.001). Positive curvilinear associations were found between LTA and physical and mental well-being in all three cohorts, and between HGW and physical and mental well-being in mid-aged and older women. In the younger women, an inverse relationship was found between HGW and well-being. When HGW and LTA were summed (TPA), the associations between TPA and well-being were attenuated compared with those for LTA alone and well-being. CONCLUSIONS: In mid-aged and older women, relationships between HGW and well-being were similar to, but weaker than seen for LTA and well-being. In young women, well-being declined with increasing HGW. Summing HGW to LTA led to attenuated relationships, suggesting that domains of physical activity should not be summed when studying relationships with well-being.status: publishe

Sitting-time, physical activity and depressive symptoms in mid-aged women

Background Associations of sitting-time and physical activity with depression are unclear. Purpose To examine concurrent and prospective associations between both sitting-time and physical activity with prevalent depressive symptoms in mid-aged Australian women. Methods Data were from 8950 women, aged 50–55 years in 2001, who completed mail surveys in 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2010. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression questionnaire. Associations between sitting-time (≤4 hours/day, >4–7 hours/day, >7 hours/day) and physical activity (none, some, meeting guidelines) with depressive symptoms (symptoms/no symptoms) were examined in 2011 in concurrent and lagged mixed-effect logistic modeling. Both main effects and interaction models were developed. Results In main effects modeling, women who sat >7 hours/day (OR=1.47, 95% CI=1.29, 1.67) and women who did no physical activity (OR=1.99, 95% CI=1.75, 2.27) were more likely to have depressive symptoms than women who sat ≤4 hours/day and who met physical activity guidelines, respectively. In interaction modeling, the likelihood of depressive symptoms in women who sat >7 hours/day and did no physical activity was triple that of women who sat ≤4 hours/day and met physical activity guidelines (OR 2.96, 95% CI=2.37, 3.69). In prospective main effects and interaction modeling, sitting-time was not associated with depressive symptoms, but women who did no physical activity were more likely than those who met physical activity guidelines to have future depressive symptoms (OR=1.26, 95% CI=1.08, 1.47). Conclusions Increasing physical activity to a level commensurate with guidelines can alleviate current depression symptoms and prevent future symptoms in mid-aged women. Reducing sitting-time may ameliorate current symptoms

Advantage and Disadvantage across Australia's Extended Metropolitan Regions: A Typology of Socioeconomic Outcomes

New national and international economic and social forces have reshaped national geographies in general and the characteristics of cities in particular, resulting in a range of diverse social and spatial outcomes. These outcomes, which include greater differentiation across, within and between cities has become a feature of the economic and social forces associated with post-Fordist social structures. Taking localities across Australia's metropolitan regions, this paper develops a typology of advantage and disadvantage using a model-based approach with clustering of data represented by a parameterised Gaussian mixture model and confidence intervals of the means providing a measure of differences between the clusters. The analysis finds seven clusters of localities that represent different aspects of the socio-spatial structure of the metropolitan regions studied

Neoliberalism, gender inequality and the Australian labour market

Over the past 25 years neoliberal philosophies have increasingly informed labour market policies in Australia that have led to increasing levels of wage decentralization. The most recent industrial relations changes aim to decentralize wage setting significantly further than has previously been the case. We argue that this is problematic for gender equity as wage decentralization will entrench rather than challenge the undervaluation of feminized work. In this article we provide an overview of key neoliberal industrial relations policy changes pertinent to gender equity and examine the current state of gender equity in the labour market. Results show that women's labour force participation has steadily increased over time but that a number of negative trends exclude women with substantial caring responsibilities from pursuing a career track. The implications of increasing levels of wage deregulation are that gender wage inequality and the potential for discrimination will grow