ObjectiveDepressive symptom is a serious mental illness often accompanied by physical and emotional problems. The prevalence of depressive symptom in older adults has become an increasingly important public health priority. Our study used cardiometabolic indicators to predict depressive symptom in middle-aged and older adults in China.MethodsThe data came from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2011 (CHARLS2011), which was a cross-sectional study. The analytic sample included 8,942 participants aged 45 years or above. The study evaluated the relationship between cardiometabolic indicators and depression by measuring 13 indicators, including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, waist-height ratio (WHtR), conicity index, visceral adiposity index (VAI), Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI), lipid accumulation product (LAP), a body shape index (ABSI), body roundness index (BRI), triglyceride glucose index (TyG-index) and its correlation index (TyG-BMI, TyG-waist circumference, TyG-WHtR). Binary logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between thirteen cardiometabolic indicators and depressive symptom. In addition, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and area under curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the predictive anthropometric index and to determine the optimum cut-off value.ResultsThe study included 8,942 participants, of whom 4,146 (46.37%) and 4,796 (53.63%) were male and female. The prevalence of depressive symptom in mid-aged and older adults in China was 41.12% in males and 55.05% in females. The results revealed that BMI [AUC = 0.440, 95%CI: 0.422–0.457], waist circumference [AUC = 0.443, 95%CI: 0.425–0.460], WHtR [AUC = 0.459, 95%CI: 0.441–0.476], LAP [AUC = 0.455, 95%CI: 0.437–0.472], BRI [AUC = 0.459, 95%CI: 0.441–0.476], CVAI [AUC = 0.449, 95%CI: 0.432–0.467], TyG-BMI [AUC = 0.447, 95%CI: 0.429–0.465], and TyG-waist circumference [AUC =0.452, 95%CI: 0.434–0.470] were weak predictors of depressive symptom (p< 0.05) in males. In females, BMI [AUC = 0.470, 95%CI: 0.453–0.486], LAP [AUC = 0.484, 95%CI: 0.467–0.500], TyG-BMI [AUC = 0.470, 95%CI: 0.454–0.487], and TyG-waist circumference [AUC =0.481, 95%CI: 0.465–0.498] were weak predictors of depressive symptom (p< 0.05). On the other side, VAI, ABSI, conicity index and TyG index could not predict depressive symptom in middle-aged and older adults.ConclusionMost cardiometabolic indicators have important value in predicting depressive symptom. Our results can provide measures for the early identification of depressive symptom in middle-aged and older adults in China to reduce the prevalence of depressive symptom and improve health.