Cognitive performance in older elderly men with late-life depression and cardiovascular comorbidities: symptomatological correlation.
BACKGROUND
Whether depression or cardiovascular disease would have a greater effect on worsening cognitive impairment in the burgeoning older elderly population is uncertain. Which disorder causes greater cognitive impairment was investigated.


METHODS
A cross section of 207 cognitively impaired older elderly (≥75 years old) men was recruited from outpatient clinics in southern Taiwan between 2004 and 2008. Their medical charts were reviewed for their history of medical illnesses, and those undergoing a current major depressive episode were screened using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Four groups of men were enrolled: 33 healthy controls (HC), 101 cognitively impaired patients with cardiovascular comorbidities (CVCs), 34 patients with late-life depression (LLD), and 49 patients with LLD and cardiovascular comorbidities (LLD + CVC). Several neuropsychological tests (e.g., Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), WCST, and Trail Making Test (TMT) parts A and B) were used to assess the participants.


RESULTS
Cognitive function scores were highest in the HC group and lowest in the LLD + CVC group. There were no significant differences between the two groups with LLD comorbidity, and LLD was mostly associated with cognitive performance. LLD + CVC group members had the lowest recall memory, but their overall MMSE score was not significantly different. Moreover, this group had a higher but nonsignificantly different perseverative error than did the LLD group. Similarly, the LLD + CVC group was nonsignificantly slower at the TMT-A and TMT-B tasks than was the LLD group.


CONCLUSIONS
LLD worsens neuropsychological function more than cardiovascular comorbidities do.
Division of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Allied Health Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan. rblu@mail.ncku.edu.tw.
Yun-Hsuan
YH
Chang
Mu-En
ME
Liu
Chih-Chun
CC
Huang
Yan-Chiou
YC
Ku
Sheng-Yu
SY
Lee
Shiou-Lan
SL
Chen
Wen-Chien
WC
Liu
Ru-Band
RB
Lu