Factors associated with depression among elderly tuberculosis patients: a prospective multicenter cohort study

<bold>Background and aims:</bold> Depression among elderly populations is a common comorbidity and linked to negative treatment outcome, such as death and loss-to-follow-up. We aimed to identify factors associated with depression among elderly tuberculosis patients. <bold>Methods:</bold> We conducted a prospective multicenter cohort study to enroll tuberculosis patients aged 65 years or over in the Republic of Korea between 2020 and 2022. Participants were interviewed to collect their social and clinical information. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to measure their depression at baseline. The PHQ-9 score ≥ 5 was defined as depression. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess associations between independent variables and depression. <bold>Results:</bold> Among 370 participants who completed the PHQ-9, 215 (58.1%) were male, 197 (53.2%) were aged 75 years or over, and 158 (40.5%) had depression. Increasing age, presences of comorbidity, and having cough, alarming, and constitutional symptoms were associated with depression in a univariable logistic regression analysis. However, having alarming (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 19.2, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 1.18-3.10) and constitutional (aOR = 2.60, 95% CI = 1.56-4.31) symptoms were significantly remained in a multivariable analysis. <bold>Conclusions:</bold> Depression is common among elderly tuberculosis patients. It is necessary to assess depression among tuberculosis patients with alarming and constitutional symptoms at baseline.