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Patterns of late-life depressive symptoms and subsequent declines in cognitive domains
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Nov 07 2016
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Source: Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 32(12):1330-1341
[PDF-1.26 MB]
Details:
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Alternative Title:Int J Geriatr Psychiatry
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Personal Author:
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Description:Background
Depression frequently co-occurs with cognitive decline, but the nature of this association is unclear. We examined relations of late-life depressive symptom patterns to subsequent domain-specific cognitive changes.
Methods
Depressive symptoms were measured at up to 3 timepoints among 11,675 Nurses’ Health Study participants prior to cognitive testing. Depressive symptom patterns were categorized as non-depressed, variable, or persistent, based on published severity cutpoints. Outcomes were global, verbal, and executive function-attention composite scores.
Results
Participants with persistent depressive symptoms had worse executive function-attention decline compared to non-depressed participants (multivariable-adjusted mean difference=-0.03 units/year, 95% CI: −0.05, −0.01; p=0.003); this difference was comparable to 8 years of aging. However, being in the persistent vs. non-depressed group was not significantly related to verbal (p=0.71) or global score (p=0.09) decline. By contrast, compared to the non-depressed group, those with variable depressive symptoms had worse verbal memory decline (multivariable-adjusted mean difference=−0.01 units/year, 95% CI: −0.02, −0.002; p=0.03); this group showed no differences for global or executive function-attention decline.
Conclusions
A variable pattern of depressive symptom severity related to subsequent decline in verbal memory, while a persistent pattern related to decline in executive function-attention. Findings could signal differences in underlying neuropathologic processes among persons with differing depression patterns and late-life cognitive decline.
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Pubmed ID:29193360
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Pubmed Central ID:PMC5712842
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Funding:
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Volume:32
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Issue:12
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