The association between depressive symptoms and cognitive decline in community-dwelling elderly persons.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether depressive symptoms predict specific types of cognitive decline in order to elucidate the association between late life depression and cognitive decline.


BACKGROUND
Mechanisms underlying the association between late life depression and cognitive decline are still unclear.


METHODS
Six hundred and forty-one elderly persons of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) aged 70-85 were examined by means of two measurement occasions over a period of 3 years. Depressive symptoms were assessed by means of the CES-D. Various cognitive functions were examined using neuropsychological tests.


RESULTS
Depressive symptoms were associated with decline in speed of information processing over a 3-year period, whereas there was no association between depression and increasing memory impairment or global mental deterioration.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that depressive symptoms are associated with subcortical pathology, most probable white matter lesions.
Comijs
H C
HC
Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, Vrije Universiteit, Van der Boechorststraat 7-9, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. h.comijs.emgo@med.vu.nl
Jonker
C
C
Beekman
A T
AT
Deeg
D J
DJ
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003071:Cognition; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011597:Psychomotor Performance