Depression in autopsy-confirmed dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease.
Depression has frequently been cited as a manifestation of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Previous studies have suggested an increase of depression in patients with DLB, compared to those with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The purpose of this study was to examine depressive symptomatology in nursing home residents, from a consecutive series of DLB (n=16) and AD (n=39) autopsy-confirmed cases. Subjects received standard neuropathological analysis and postmortem chart review for clinical assessment of depression. Depressive symptomatology did not differ between the AD and DLB groups, and there was no significant relationship between depression and cortical or subcortical Lewy body (LB) count in the locus ceruleus or substantia nigra. This study suggests that the presence or absence of depression cannot be used to distinguish between AD and DLB. Furthermore, depressive symptomatology in DLB does not appear to be related to severity of cortical or subcortical LB pathology.
Samuels
Steven C
SC
Department of Psychiatry, Box 1230, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One East 100th Street, New York, NY 10029, USA. Steven.Samuels@med.va.gov
Brickman
Adam M
AM
Burd
Jeremy A
JA
Purohit
Dushyant P
DP
Qureshi
Pervaiz Q
PQ
Serby
Michael
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020961:Lewy Body Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male