This study aimed to fill the gap in research regarding the longitudinal studies on the association between
urban neighborhood characteristics and mental health of older populations. Individual level register-based
data sets from Finland (10 largest cities), Sweden (Stockholm), and Italy (Turin) including satellite based
land cover data were used. The data included sociodemographic individual information on population aged
50+, their antidepressant purchases, and socioeconomic and physical characteristics regarding area of
residence. We followed individuals for antidepressant purchases for 5 years in 2001-2015, depending on
dataset, and used hierarchical negative binomial models to assess whether there was an association
between social and physical area characteristics and antidepressant use and to what extent was this
association attributable to individual sociodemographic characteristics of the residents and whether the
findings were consistent across countries. We found weak and inconsistent evidence of high levels of area
characteristics related to dense physical urban structure being predictive of increased antidepressant use in
ages above 50. However, generally the extent to which antidepressant use was clustered by areas in the
studied contexts was minimal
