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Association between plant-based diets and depression in older adults with heart disease: the mediating role of sleep disturbances
Depression is commonly observed in older adults with heart conditions and is linked to poorer health outcomes. This study by Yu et al. (2025) aimed to investigate the relationship between plant-based diets and depression in this population, as well as whether sleep disturbances contribute to explaining this connection. Participants in the 2018 iteration of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), specifically elderly individuals with heart disease (n = 2039), were recruited for this cross-sectional analysis, which provided information on diet, depression symptoms, and sleep quality and duration. The researchers computed the scores for the general plant-based diet (PDI), unhealthy plant-based diet (uPDI), and healthy plant-based diet (hPDI). Findings showed that higher adherence to PDI and hPDI was linked to lower depression risk, while higher uPDI was associated with greater depression risk. Sleep quality significantly mediated the relationship between plant-based diets and depression, accounting for 61% of the effect. Further analysis found that uPDI increased depression risk only in females. This is the first research to identify a strong inverse link between plant-based dietary patterns and depression among older adults with heart disease, with sleep quality acting as a partial mediator. Improving diet and sleep may be effective strategies to reduce depression risk in this group. [NPID: Heart disease, depression, plant-based diets, cross-sectional study, sleep, older adults]
Year: 2025
