title: Clinical presentation of the "depression-executive dysfunction syndrome" of late life.
abstract: It has been proposed that a "depression-executive dysfunction (DED) syndrome" occurs in late life. This assertion was based on clinical, neuropathological, and neuroimaging findings suggesting that frontostriatal dysfunctions contribute to the development of both depression and executive dysfunction and influence the course of depression. The authors describe the clinical presentation of DED and its relationship to disability, studying 126 elderly subjects with major depression and evaluating depressive symptoms, cognitive functioning, disability, and personality dimensions. Patients with the DED syndrome had reduced fluency, impaired visual naming, paranoia, loss of interest in activities, and psychomotor retardation, but showed a rather mild vegetative syndrome. Depressive symptomatology, and especially psychomotor retardation and loss of interest in activities, contributed to disability in DED patients, whereas paranoia was associated with disability independently of executive dysfunction. These findings may aid clinicians in identifying patients needing vigilant follow-up, because depression with executive dysfunction was found to be associated with disability, poor treatment response, relapse, and recurrence.
authors.affiliation: Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College, Cornell University, White Plains, NY, USA.
authors.forename: George S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Alexopoulos
authors.forename: Dimitris N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Kiosses
authors.forename: Sibel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Klimstra
authors.forename: Balkrishna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kalayam
authors.forename: Martha L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bruce
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010259:Paranoid Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D010551:Personality; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013577:Syndrome