title: Temporal course of depressive symptoms during the development of Alzheimer disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize change in depressive symptoms before and after the onset of dementia in Alzheimer disease (AD).
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from the Chicago Health and Aging Project, a longitudinal cohort study of risk factors for AD in a geographically defined population of old people. Two subsets were analyzed. In 357 individuals who developed incident AD during the study, self-report of depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) was obtained at 3-year intervals for a mean of 8 to 9 years. In 340 individuals who agreed to annual data collection, informant report of depressive symptoms (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale) was obtained for a mean of 3 years after a diagnosis of AD (n = 107), mild cognitive impairment (n = 81), or no cognitive impairment (n = 152).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The incident AD group reported a barely perceptible increase in depressive symptoms during 6 to 7 years of observation before the diagnosis (0.04 symptoms per year) and no change during 2 to 3 years of observation after the diagnosis except for a slight decrease in positive affect. In those with annual follow-up, neither AD nor its precursor, mild cognitive impairment, was associated with change in informant report of depressive symptoms during a mean of 3 years of observation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Depressive symptoms show little change during the development and progression of AD to a moderate level of dementia severity.
authors.affiliation: Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, 600 South Paulina St., Chicago, IL 60612, USA. rwilson@rush.edu
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Hoganson
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Rajan
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Mendes de Leon
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Evans
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000379:methods; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors