Background: The relationship between depressive symptoms and health service use among older people is not well understood. In this study we examined the two-way relationships between depressive symptoms and hospitalization and/or physician visits by older adults.

Methods: In a one-year follow-up study of 973 community-dwelling older adults in the Singapore Longitudinal Aging Studies (SLAS), depressive symptoms (15-item Geriatric Depression Scale score ≥5) were assessed at baseline and one year later. Information on self-reported physician visits and hospitalization were collected bimonthly over one year.

Results: When demographic characteristics, medical comorbidities, functional status and other covariates were controlled for, baseline depressive symptoms were associated with increased episodes of subsequent physician visits during the one-year follow-up (RR,1.34; 95% CI, 1.05–1.70), but not with subsequent hospitalization(s) during the same period. Conversely, participants with five or more physician visits (versus less than 5) over one year were more likely to be depressed at one year (OR, 10.2; 95% CI, 3.36–31.1); hospitalization during this period was also significantly associated with depressive symptoms at one year (OR = 6.43, 95% CI, 2.48–16.6).

Conclusion: Depressive symptoms and health service use have reciprocal relationships. Health service use for non-mental illnesses may be optimized by efforts at post-hospitalization interventions to recognize and treat depression in older persons.