To examine the association of multimorbidity burden, caregiving status, and sex with a joint depressive symptom-biomarker network in older adults with heart disease.
Key Findings:
External factors were associated with heterogeneous local patterns in the joint symptom-biomarker network.
No significant subgroup differences in overall network structure or global connectivity were observed.
Multimorbidity burden showed broad patterns across domains, caregiving status showed weaker and more localized patterns, and sex showed clear and reproducible patterns.
Interpretation:
Depressive heterogeneity in older adults with heart disease is more clearly reflected in local symptom-biomarker associations than in broad network-wide differences.
Limitations:
Conclusion:
The findings support an assessment-oriented approach that integrates external factors and routinely available biomarkers for characterizing depressive heterogeneity in this population.
