IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i9p1574-d228482.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Associations between Polypharmacy, Self-Rated Health, and Depression in African American Older Adults; Mediators and Moderators

Author

Listed:
  • Mohsen Bazargan

    (Department of Family Medicine, Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
    Department of Family Medicine, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA)

  • James Smith

    (Department of Family Medicine, Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA)

  • Mohammed Saqib

    (Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture, and Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA)

  • Hamid Helmi

    (Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA)

  • Shervin Assari

    (Department of Family Medicine, Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA)

Abstract

Background . Despite the prevalence of multimorbidity among African American (AA) older adults, little information exists on correlates of polypharmacy (using 5+ medications) in AA older adults. There is more information available regarding the link between polypharmacy and physical aspects of health than subjective ones. Aims . In a local sample of AA older adults in Los Angeles, this study investigated the association of polypharmacy with self-rated health (SRH) and depression. We also explored gender differences in these links. Methods . This community-based study was conducted in south Los Angeles. A total number of 708 AA older adults (age ≥ 55 years) were entered into this study. From this number, 253 were AA men and 455 were AA women. Polypharmacy was the independent variable. Self-rated health (SRH) and depression were the dependent variables. Age, educational attainment, financial difficulty (difficulty paying bills, etc.), and marital status were covariates. Gender was the moderator. Multimorbidity, measured as the number of chronic diseases (CDs), was the mediator. Logistic regressions were applied for data analysis. Results . Polypharmacy was associated with worse SRH and depression. Multimorbidity fully mediated the association between polypharmacy and depressive symptoms. Multimorbidity only partially mediated the association between polypharmacy and poor SRH. Gender moderated the association between polypharmacy and SRH, as polypharmacy was associated with poor SRH in women but not men. Gender did not alter the association between polypharmacy and depression. Conclusions . AA older women with polypharmacy experience worse SRH and depression, an association which is partially due to the underlying multimorbidity. There is a need for preventing inappropriate polypharmacy in AA older adults, particularly when addressing poor SRH and depression in AA older women with multimorbidity.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohsen Bazargan & James Smith & Mohammed Saqib & Hamid Helmi & Shervin Assari, 2019. "Associations between Polypharmacy, Self-Rated Health, and Depression in African American Older Adults; Mediators and Moderators," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-14, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:9:p:1574-:d:228482
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/9/1574/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/9/1574/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Courtenay, Will H., 2000. "Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men's well-being: a theory of gender and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(10), pages 1385-1401, May.
    2. Jayanta Kumar Bora & Nandita Saikia, 2015. "Gender Differentials in Self-Rated Health and Self-Reported Disability among Adults in India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(11), pages 1-14, November.
    3. van Wijk, Cecile M.T.Gijsbers & Kolk, Annemarie M. & van Den Bosch, Wil J.H.M. & Van Den Hoogen, Henk J.M., 1992. "Male and female morbidity in general practice: The nature of sex differences," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 665-678, September.
    4. Shervin Assari & James L. Smith & Marc A. Zimmerman & Mohsen Bazargan, 2019. "Cigarette Smoking among Economically Disadvantaged African-American Older Adults in South Los Angeles: Gender Differences," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-16, April.
    5. Mohsen Bazargan & James L. Smith & Sharon Cobb & Lisa Barkley & Cheryl Wisseh & Emma Ngula & Ricky J. Thomas & Shervin Assari, 2019. "Emergency Department Utilization among Underserved African American Older Adults in South Los Angeles," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-16, April.
    6. Murtagh, K.N. & Hubert, H.B., 2004. "Gender differences in physical disability among an elderly cohort," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(8), pages 1406-1411.
    7. Yuan Liang & Yan-Hong Gong & Xiao-Piao Wen & Chao-Ping Guan & Ming-Chuan Li & Ping Yin & Zhi-Qing Wang, 2012. "Social Determinants of Health and Depression: A Preliminary Investigation from Rural China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mohsen Bazargan & Margarita Loeza & Tavonia Ekwegh & Edward K. Adinkrah & Lucy W. Kibe & Sharon Cobb & Shervin Assari & Shahrzad Bazargan-Hejazi, 2021. "Multi-Dimensional Impact of Chronic Low Back Pain among Underserved African American and Latino Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-18, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shervin Assari & Cheryl Wisseh & Mohsen Bazargan, 2019. "Obesity and Polypharmacy among African American Older Adults: Gender as the Moderator and Multimorbidity as the Mediator," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-16, June.
    2. Shervin Assari & James Smith & Mohsen Bazargan, 2019. "Depression Fully Mediates the Effect of Multimorbidity on Self-Rated Health for Economically Disadvantaged African American Men but Not Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-16, May.
    3. Shervin Assari & James Smith & Mohsen Bazargan, 2019. "Health-Related Quality of Life of Economically Disadvantaged African American Older Adults: Age and Gender Differences," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-13, April.
    4. Sánchez-Sandoval, Yolanda & Aragón, Claudia & Verdugo, Laura, 2022. "Future expectations of adolescents in Residential Care: The role of self-perceptions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    5. Nandita Saikia & Moradhvaj & Jayanta Kumar Bora, 2016. "Gender Difference in Health-Care Expenditure: Evidence from India Human Development Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, July.
    6. Pollitt, Amanda M. & Donnelly, Rachel & Mernitz, Sara E. & Umberson, Debra, 2020. "Differences in how spouses influence each other's alcohol use in same- and different-sex marriages: A daily diary study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    7. Yee Mang Chan & Norhafizah Sahril & Ying Ying Chan & Nor’ Ain Ab Wahab & Norliza Shamsuddin & Muhd Zulfadli Hafiz Ismail, 2021. "Vision and Hearing Impairments Affecting Activities of Daily Living among Malaysian Older Adults by Gender," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-12, June.
    8. Melander, Stina, 2023. "Different logics of pain: the gendered dimension of chronic pain in a relational setting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    9. Sonja Jungreitmayr & Susanne Ring-Dimitriou & Birgit Trukeschitz & Siegfried Eisenberg & Cornelia Schneider, 2021. "Effects of an Information and Communication Technology-Based Fitness Program on Strength and Balance in Female Home Care Service Users," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-14, July.
    10. Chiao Ling Huang & Shu-Ching Yang & Chia-Hsun Chiang, 2020. "The Associations between Individual Factors, eHealth Literacy, and Health Behaviors among College Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-13, March.
    11. Wiklund, Maria & Bengs, Carita & Malmgren-Olsson, Eva-Britt & Öhman, Ann, 2010. "Young women facing multiple and intersecting stressors of modernity, gender orders and youth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(9), pages 1567-1575, November.
    12. Evelyn Forget & Raisa Deber & Leslie Roos & Randy Walld, 2005. "Canadian Health Reform: A Gender Analysis," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 123-141.
    13. Parker, Rhiannon & Larkin, Theresa & Cockburn, Jon, 2017. "A visual analysis of gender bias in contemporary anatomy textbooks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 106-113.
    14. Michelle Calvarese, 2015. "The Effect of Gender on Stress Factors: An Exploratory Study among University Students," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-8, November.
    15. Oliffe, John, 2005. "Constructions of masculinity following prostatectomy-induced impotence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(10), pages 2249-2259, May.
    16. Madsen, Julian & Jobson, Laura & Slewa-Younan, Shameran & Li, Haoxiang & King, Kylie, 2024. "Mental health literacy among Arab men living in high-income Western countries: A systematic review and narrative synthesis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    17. Hatcher, Abigail M. & Gibbs, Andrew & McBride, Ruari-Santiago & Rebombo, Dumisani & Khumalo, Mzwakhe & Christofides, Nicola J., 2022. "Gendered syndemic of intimate partner violence, alcohol misuse, and HIV risk among peri-urban, heterosexual men in South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    18. Månsdotter, Anna & Lundin, Andreas, 2010. "How do masculinity, paternity leave, and mortality associate? -A study of fathers in the Swedish parental & child cohort of 1988/89," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 576-583, August.
    19. Zhiya Hua & Dandan Ma, 2022. "Depression and Perceived Social Support among Unemployed Youths in China: Investigating the Roles of Emotion-Regulation Difficulties and Self-Efficacy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-15, April.
    20. Robert Stefko & Beata Gavurova & Viera Ivankova & Martin Rigelsky, 2020. "Gender Inequalities in Health and Their Effect on the Economic Prosperity Represented by the GDP of Selected Developed Countries—Empirical Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-26, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:9:p:1574-:d:228482. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.