Older adults with depressive symptoms are more likely to injure themselves in falls–and those who fall are more likely to develop depression, finds a study in The Gerontologist. Researchers analyzed data on nearly 6,300 U.S. Medicare beneficiaries, age 65 and older, who lived in the community or in residential care (not nursing home) facilities. Participants were surveyed twice, a year apart, about their depressive symptoms and asked how often they had fallen in the past year. On average, those who reported more depressive symptoms on the first survey were more likely to fall over the next year. At the same time, participants who reported falls during the year between the two surveys showed more severe depression symptoms on the second survey, even after researchers controlled for the number of falls reported on the first survey, other health conditions and demographic variables. (Monitor on Psychology)

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