New findings on the effects of depression

Researchers say depressive symptoms that appear in middle age or old age are associated with an increased risk of dementia, according to Top News.

Depression

Dr. Deborah E. Barnes of the University of California, San Francisco (USA) and colleagues examined medical data of 13,535 people and examined symptoms of depression in middle age (from 1964-1973), at old age (from 1994-2000) and the risk of dementia (Alzheimer's), vascular dementia (dementia due to brain damage due to impaired cerebral blood flow).

As a result, depressive symptoms appeared in 14.1% of the subjects in middle age, 9.2% at old age and 4.2% in middle age and old age.

During the 6-year follow-up, 22.5% of patients were diagnosed with dementia, 5.5% had Alzheimer's disease and 2.3% had vascular dementia.

When testing Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia separately, patients with symptoms of depression at the end of their lives are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, and patients with depression symptoms middle age and at the end of life there is a threefold increase in the risk of vascular dementia.

The results of the study were published on the Archives of General Psychiatry of the American Medical Association.