Effectiveness of Social Support for Community-Dwelling Elderly with Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Depression in the elderly is an important health factor that requires intervention in the form of social support resources. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review, while synthesizing available evidence on what kind of social support, such as social participation and social connection/network, is effective for depression in the elderly. We performed a quality assessment of the included studies using the revised Risk of Bias for Non-randomized Studies tool and a meta-analysis of studies published up to 14 May 2021. Of the 3449 studies, 52 were relevant to this study. The various types of social resource applications reported in these were classified into three types: social support, social participation, and social connection/network. The social support group had significantly lower depression compared to the control group (0.72 [0.65, 0.81], p < 0.00001, I(2) = 92%). There was a significant decrease in depression in the social participation group compared to the control group (0.67 [0.56, 0.80], p < 0.00001, I(2) = 93%) (2.77 [1.30, 5.91], p = 0.008, I(2) = 97%) (0.67 [0.56, 0.80], p < 0.00001, I(2) = 93%). Finally, the social connection/network group showed decreased depression compared to the control group (2.40 [1.89, 3.05], p < 0.00001, I(2) = 24%) (0.83 [0.76, 0.90], p < 0.00001, I(2) = 94%). The results of this systematic review confirmed the effects of various social support interventions in reducing depression among the elderly living in the community.