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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Neuropsychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1545325

The impact of depression and anxiety on the correlation between somatic symptom disorder and subjective cognitive decline in the Chinese elderly population: An exploration by simple, serial, and moderated mediation models

Provisionally accepted
Yongsen Lin Yongsen Lin 1*Ping-Zhen Lin Ping-Zhen Lin 1Guiying Zeng Guiying Zeng 2Shufang Wu Shufang Wu 2Hua Rong Chen Hua Rong Chen 2Yingchun Xiao Yingchun Xiao 2Hongbin Chen Hongbin Chen 2
  • 1 Quanzhou First Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, China
  • 2 Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    AbstractBackground: Somatic symptom disorder (SSD) exacerbates subjective cognitive decline (SCD). This association can be significantly impacted by the mental well-being of the SSD patients. However, the underlying mechanisms remain obscure.Methods: A total of 525 elderly patients, who visited the Department of Neurology of Fujian Medical University Union Hospital between October 2017 and August 2024, and the Department of Neurology of Quanzhou First Hospital Affiliated to Fujian Medical University between August 2022 and August 2024, were included in the study. Data of sociodemographics, medical history, somatic symptom disorder, subjective cognitive decline, depression, and anxiety were analyzed by simple, serial and moderated mediation models to evaluate the impact of depression and anxiety on the linkage between SSD and SCD.Results: SSD significantly affected SCD. Simple mediation analysis showed that depression and anxiety significantly mediated the association between SSD and SCD (βdepression = 0.079, 95% CI: 0.030 to 0.132; βanxiety = 0.058, 95% CI: 0.031 to 0.093). Serial mediation analyses indicated that the worsening of SSD exacerbates anxiety, in turn aggravating depressive symptoms and SCD (βb=0.044, 95% CI:0.026 to 0.069). Moderated mediation model revealed that the depressive symptoms-conferred mediation of the correlation between SSD and SCD was moderated by anxiety symptoms (β= -0.073, 95% CI: -0.131to -0.014).Conclusion: These findings provided new insights into possible avenues for prevention and intervention of SCD through SSD-based treatments with a multifaceted approach to psychiatric disorders.

    Keywords: Somatic symptom disorder, Subjective cognitive decline, Depression, Anxiety, Mediation

    Received: 14 Dec 2024; Accepted: 04 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Lin, Lin, Zeng, Wu, Chen, Xiao and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yongsen Lin, Quanzhou First Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, China

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