Association between internet exclusion and depressive symptoms among older adults: panel data analysis of fi ve cohort studies

Background Internet exclusion and depressive symptoms are prevalent phenomena among older adults; however, the association between internet exclusion and depressive symptoms remains limited. This study aims to investigate the association between internet exclusion and depressive symptoms among older adults from high-income countries (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods We conducted a comprehensive longitudinal, cross-cultural analysis, and the participants were adults aged 60 years and older from 32 countries participating in fi ve nationally representative longitudinal cohort studies: the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), and the Mexican Health and Ageing Study (MHAS). Internet exclusion was defined fi ned as the self-reported absence from internet use. Depressive symptoms were evaluated using the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies of Depression scale (CES-D) or the Euro-Depression scale (Euro-D). These fi ve cohorts, being heterogeneous, were respectively conducted with panel data analysis. Logistic regression, implemented within the generalized estimating equations framework, was used to examine the association between internet exclusion and the likelihood of experiencing depressive symptoms, adjusting for the causal-directed-acyclic-graph (DAG) minimal sufficient fi cient adjustment set (MSAS), including gender, age, education, labour force status, household wealth level, marital status, co-residence with children, residence status, cognitive impairment, and functional ability. Findings Our study included a total of 129,847 older adults during the period from 2010 to 2020, with a median follow-up of 5 (2, 7) years. The pooled proportion of internet exclusion was 46.0% in HRS, 32.6% in ELSA, 54.8% in SHARE, 92.3% in CHARLS, and 65.3% in MHAS. Internet exclusion was significantly fi cantly associated with depressive symptoms across all cohort studies: HRS (OR = 1.13, 95% CI 1.07-1.20), - 1.20), ELSA (OR = 1.22, 95% CI 1.11-1.34), - 1.34), SHARE (OR = 1.55, 95% CI 1.47-1.62), - 1.62), CHARLS (OR = 1.49, 95% CI 1.26-1.77), - 1.77), and MHAS (OR = 1.48, 95% CI 1.39-1.58). - 1.58). Moreover, internet exclusion was found to be associated with all dimensions of depression in the SHARE, MHAS, and ELSA cohorts (except for sleep and felt sad) cohorts. Interpretation A considerable proportion of older adults experienced internet exclusion, particularly those in LMICs. Internet exclusion among older adults, irrespective of their geographic location in HICs or LMICs, was associated with a higher likelihood of experiencing depressive symptoms, which demonstrated the importance of addressing barriers to internet access and promoting active participation in the internet society among older adults. Copyright (c) 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).