Associations between walking and depressive symptoms among older adults: Do purposes and amounts of walking matter? Results from the VoisiNuAge Study

BackgroundWalking has been associated with lower depressive symptoms. However, walking may be performed for different purposes and there is uncertainty regarding the optimal amount (duration and frequency) of walking among older adults.Objectives1) To investigate whether walking for fitness purposes and walking for purposes other than fitness are differentially associated with depressive symptoms; 2) to investigate the effect of amounts of walking.MethodsParticipants (n = 436) were older adults from the VoisiNuAge Study. Regression analyses examined whether fitness walking and walking for purposes other than fitness were differentially associated with depressive symptoms, independent of physical activity other than walking, socio-demographic variables, stressful events, number of chronic illnesses, and neighborhood variables. For both fitness walking and walking for other purposes, three amounts of walking were investigated: moderate (≥30 min, ≥ 3 days a week), high (≥30 min, ≥ 5 days a week), and very high (≥30 min, 7 days a week) amounts of walking. Analyses were stratified by amounts of walking.ResultsWalking for fitness purposes, but not walking for purposes other than fitness, was significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms. However, the association between fitness walking and lower depressive symptoms was statistically significant when amount of walking was moderate or high but not when walking amount was very high.DiscussionWalking is not necessarily associated with depressive symptoms per se: Rather, the joint influence of purposes and amounts of walking must be taken into account.