A Escala de Depressão Geriátrica pode ser utilizada para rastrear quedas em idosos comunitários

Depressive symptoms are associated with the occurrence of falls in older adults, therefore, it is important to define different cutoff points between the sexes in the Abbreviated Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) that discriminate a greater propensity for falls, to identify and implement early preventive rehabilitation strategies. Objective: To determine the accuracy of GDS-15, with different values between sexes, to track falls in community-dwelling older adults and verify the association between depressive symptoms and falls using the proposed cutoff points. Method: Cross-sectional study, with random sampling including 308 older adults. The history of falls in the last 12 months, classified dichotomously (yes or no), was considered as a dependent variable and the assessment of depressive symptoms using the GDS-15 as an independent variable. Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve was used to analyze the sensitivity and specificity of GDS-15, and Multivariable Logistic Regression to verify the association between depressive symptoms and falls. Results: The cutoff points that best discriminated falls in the GDS were ≥4 points for women [AUC:0.61 (95%CI: 0.54;0.69)] and ≥3 points for men [AUC:0.65 (95%CI: 0.57;0.74)]. In both sexes, the older adults with depressive symptoms were more likely to suffer falls, compared to those who did not have the symptoms, being 3.05 (95%CI: 1.16;8.05) times higher in men and 2.28 (95%CI: 1.21;4.31) times higher in women, even after adjusting for age, multimorbidity and level of physical activity. Conclusion: GDS-15 can be used to screen falls in older adults, and it is indicated to use discriminative values differentiated between sexes.