MRI lesion severity and mortality in geriatric depression.
OBJECTIVE
The authors correlated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lesion severity and mortality among depressed elderly patients.


METHODS
They examined the association of mortality and deep white-matter hyperintensity (DWMH), periventricular hyperintensity (PVH), and subcortical gray-matter hyperintensity (SGH) ratings in 259 subjects.


RESULTS
DWMH and PVH were significantly associated with mortality initially, and, in final modeling, DWMH remained significant.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that there is a relationship between cerebrovascular disease severity and mortality among depressed patients. More studies, with larger sample sizes, comparing depressed patients and control subjects are needed to further elucidate this relationship.
Levy
Robert M
RM
Department of Psychaitry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. steff001@mc.duke.edu
Steffens
David C
DC
McQuoid
Douglas R
DR
Provenzale
James M
JM
MacFall
James R
JR
Krishnan
K Ranga Rama
KR
D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male