Association between depressive symptoms and balance disorders in older adults living in 12 high Andean communities.

Authors

Maite T Alanya-Pineda, Ivonne A Bravo-Alcántara, Ana L Alcantara-Diaz, Leslie Salazar-Talla, Diego Urrunaga-Pastor, Fernando M Runzer-Colmenares, José F Parodi

Published in

PloS one. Volume 21. Issue 7. Pages e0353158. Epub Jul 08, 2026.

Abstract

The prevalence of depressive symptoms and balance disorders may be higher in high-altitude Andean regions due to chronic hypoxia, neurochemical alterations, and limited access to health services. Since both conditions can coexist and contribute to functional decline and falls, their association is relevant. We aimed to estimate the association between depressive symptoms and balance disorders in older adults living in 12 high Andean communities.
We carried out a secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional analytical study in older adults residing in 12 Peruvian high Andean communities during the period 2013-2020. The exposure variable was depressive symptoms (defined as a score greater than or equal to two on the five-item geriatric depression scale), while the outcome variable was balance disorders (defined by a functional reach test less than or equal to 20.32 cm). We constructed generalized linear models from Poisson family with link log and robust variances. We estimated crude (cPR) and adjusted (aPR) prevalence ratios with their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).
We analyzed 417 older adults; 61.1% (n = 255) were women, with a mean age of 73.2 ± 6.9 years. Additionally, 52.8% (n = 220) presented depressive symptoms, while 48.9% (n = 204) presented balance disorders. In the adjusted regression model, depressive symptoms were associated with a higher prevalence of balance disorders in older adults (aPR = 1.66; 95%CI: 1.28-2.15; p < 0.001).
Depressive symptoms were associated with a higher prevalence of balance disorders in older adults residing in the 12 high Andean communities. Future epidemiological studies with a larger sample size are needed to evaluate depressive symptoms and balance disorders to develop early screening programs in older adults to improve their quality of life and access to primary health care.

PMID:
42418400
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 09 Jul 2026.

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