Limitations and Future Directions Relationship Between Physical Activity and Depression in Elderly Costa Ricans Shu Li1,2, Michelle Cheselka1, Kristen Harris1 1 Kent State Universtiy, Kent, Ohio 2 Medical Mutual of Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio Contact: shuli0682@gmail.com Introduction Methods Results Table. The Differences in Mean Geriatric Depression Scale By Exercise, Smoke, and Number of Friends Dataset: the Costa Rican Longevity and Healthy Aging Study (CRELES), a part of the Health and Retirement Surveys (HRS) Cohort: 9,600 individuals 55 years of age or older Sampling method: Random selection from the database of the Census of Population of the year 2000 Regression and Correlation analysis Variable N Depression Scale p-Value Mean (SD) Exercise <0.0001 Yes 325 12.50 (13.94)   No 1072 19.11 (20.00) Missing 3 Smokes 0.3936 80 19.63 (22.23) 1320 17.45 (18.76) Number of Friends 0.0001 None 37 25.62 (24.98) 1-2 19.35 (17.75) 3-9 1800 21.97 (23.56) 10 or more 1144 16.52 (17.79) 2 Variables inspected Geriatric Depression Scale Smoke Exercise Number of Friends Tests Performed: T-test of Independence ANOVA Image from Diabetes Care Flickr Account Depression – a major public health issue Common and serious medical illness Affects how individuals feel and function If depression remains untreated, it can progress to many physical and emotional problems, not to mention, reduce a person’s ability to function at work and at home. Conclusion Limitations and Future Directions The relationship between physical activity and depression is significant The relationship between number of friends and depression is significant The relationship between smokes and depression is not significant Limitations: There were a certain number of missing values Due to the no-answer rate caused by interviewees Participation was also totally voluntary Some people who were truly depressed, advanced in age, or had disabilities might or might not have participated Future Directions : Clinical data-variables can be more accurately measured Eliminates voluntarily self-evaluated survey data Purpose To assess the relationship between physical activity in the past 12 months and depression in the elderly Costa Rican population. Printed by