Subjects’ characteristics by their depressive symptom status according to the 9-item Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale among the elderly population in China
| Characteristics | Lower than depressive symptom cut-off point* | Higher than depressive symptom cut-off point* | P value |
| Age (years) | |||
| 60–64 | 1603 (37.2) | 1068 (33.5) | <0.001 |
| 65–69 | 988 (22.9) | 704 (22.1) | |
| 70–74 | 766 (17.8) | 547 (17.2) | |
| 75–79 | 530 (12.3) | 471 (14.8) | |
| 80+ | 422 (9.8) | 397 (12.5) | |
| Residence | |||
| Rural | 1207 (28.0) | 1315 (41.3) | <0.001 |
| Urban | 3102 (72.0) | 1872 (58.8) | |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 2427 (56.3) | 1627 (51.1) | <0.001 |
| Female | 1882 (43.7) | 1563 (48.9) | |
| Marital status | |||
| Married | 3316 (77.0) | 2038 (63.9) | <0.001 |
| Widowed/divorced/unmarried | 993 (23.0) | 1149 (36.1) | |
| Educational level | |||
| Never attended school | 651 (15.1) | 816 (25.6) | <0.001 |
| Primary school | 1409 (32.7) | 1266 (39.7) | |
| Junior high school and above | 2249 (52.2) | 1105 (34.7) | |
| Ethnicity | |||
| Han | 4074 (94.5) | 2990 (93.8) | 0.19 |
| Other | 235 (5.5) | 197 (6.2) | |
| Living arrangement | |||
| Live with others | 3925 (91.1) | 2666 (83.7) | <0.001 |
| Live alone | 384 (8.9) | 521 (16.3) | |
| Physical disability | |||
| No functional limitations | 3988 (92.6) | 2531 (79.4) | <0.001 |
| One or more functional limitations | 321 (7.4) | 656 (20.6) | |
| Wealth quantile | |||
| Q1 (lowest) | 691 (16.0) | 925 (29.0) | <0.001 |
| Q2 | 694 (16.1) | 717 (22.5) | |
| Q3 | 1066 (24.7) | 705 (22.1) | |
| Q4 | 1002 (23.3) | 520 (16.3) | |
| Q5 (highest) | 856 (19.9) | 320 (10.1) | |
| No of comorbid chronic diseases | |||
| 0 | 1463 (34.0) | 551 (17.3) | <0.001 |
| 1 | 1307 (30.3) | 917 (28.8) | |
| ≥2 | 1539 (35.7) | 1719 (53.9) |
*For the current study, on a nine-item scale, the total possible score was 18 (9 items multiplied by 2, the highest response). The standardised cut-off point was 4.8 by using Kohout’s formula.