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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Mental health literacy, folic acid and vitamin B12, and physical activity for the prevention of depression in older adults
— randomised controlled trial | | Author(s) | Janine G Walker, Andrew J Mackinnon, Philip Batterham |
| Journal title | British Journal of Psychiatry, vol 197, no 1, July 2010 |
| Pages | pp 45-54 |
| Source | http://bjp.rcpsych.org doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.109.075291 |
| Keywords | Depression ; Preventative medicine ; Psychiatric treatment ; Exercise ; Vitamins ; Living in the community ; Clinical surveys. |
| Annotation | Few randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have examined potential preventive agents in high-risk community populations. The aim of this study was to determine whether a mental health literacy intervention, the promotion of physical activity, or folic acid plus vitamin B12 reduce depression symptoms in community-dwelling older adults with elevated psychological distress. The initial target sample size was 2000; however, only 909 adults (60-74 years) met the study criteria. Interventions were delivered by mail with telephone calls. The main outcome was depressive symptoms on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) at 6 weeks, 6, 12 and 24 months. The Clinicaltrials.gov registration number is NCT00214682. From randomisation to 24-month assessment, the drop-out rate was low (13.5%). Neither folic acid + B12 nor physical activity reduced depressive symptoms at any time point. At 6 weeks, depressive symptoms were lower for the mental health literacy intervention compared with its control condition. In conclusion, mental health literacy had a transient effect on depressive symptoms. Other than this, none of the interventions significantly reduced symptoms relative to their comparator at 6 weeks or subsequently. Neither folic acid plus B12 nor physical activity were effective in reducing depressive symptoms. (KJ/RH) |
| Accession Number | CPA-100809215 A |
| Classmark | ENR: LK2: LP: CEA: CFE: K4: 3G |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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