Life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, and blood pressure in the middle-aged and older Chinese population

Abstract

Objective: Both life satisfaction and depressive symptoms have been proven to be related to blood pressure (BP) separately. This longitudinal study aimed to examine whether these two distinct but related psychological constructs are independent predictors of BP in the middle-aged and older Chinese population.

Methods: This study used two waves of data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) and the analysis were restricted to those respondents aged 45 and older without hypertension and other cardiometabolic conditions [n = 4055, mean age (SD) = 56.7 (8.3); male, 50.1%]. Multiple linear regression models were used to evaluate the associations between baseline life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, and systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) at follow-up.

Results: Life satisfaction was positively associated with SBP (β = 0.03, p = .03), while depressive symptoms were negatively associated with both SBP (β = -0.04, p = .003) and DBP (β = -0.04, p = .004) at follow-up. The associations for life satisfaction became insignificant when all the covariates including depressive symptoms were taken into account. In contrast, the associations for depressive symptoms remained even after controlling for all the covariates including life satisfaction (SBP: β = -0.04, p = .02; DBP: β = -0.04, p = .01).

Conclusion: The results implied that depressive symptoms, rather than life satisfaction, independently predicted BP changes in the Chinese population after four years. These findings expand our knowledge about the association patterns of depressive symptoms and life satisfaction with BP.

Keywords: Blood pressure; Depressive symptoms; Life satisfaction; Middle-aged and older adults.