title: Stressful life events and neuroticism as predictors of late-life versus early-life depression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The occurrence of depression in younger adults is related to the combination of long-standing factors such as personality traits (neuroticism) and more acute factors such as the subjective impact of stressful life events. Whether an increase in physical illnesses changes these associations in old age depression remains a matter of debate.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared 79 outpatients with major depression and 102 never-depressed controls; subjects included both young (mean age: 35 years) and older (mean age: 70 years) adults. Assessments included the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, NEO Personality Inventory and Cumulative Illness Rating Scale. Logistic regression models analyzed the association between depression and subjective impact of stressful life events while controlling for neuroticism and physical illness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients and controls experienced the same number of stressful life events in the past 12 months. However, in contrast to the controls, patients associated the events with a subjective negative emotional impact. Negative stress impact and levels of neuroticism, but not physical illness, significantly predicted depression in young age. In old age, negative stress impact was weakly associated with depression. In this age group, depressive illness was also determined by physical illness burden and neuroticism.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggest that the subjective impact of life stressors, although rated as of the same magnitude, plays a less important role in accounting for depression in older age compared to young age. They also indicate an increasing weight of physical illness burden in the prediction of depression occurrence in old age.
authors.affiliation: Divisions of Liaison Psychiatry and Crisis Intervention, University Hospitals of Geneva and Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Panteleimon
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Giannakopoulos
authors.forename: François R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bartolomei
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Digiorgio
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ortiz Chicherio
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Delaloye
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghisletta
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lecerf
authors.forename: Anik
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Ribaupierre
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Canuto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015984:Causality; D015897:Comorbidity; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000075384:Neuroticism; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D013557:Switzerland
keywords: age; late-life depression; life events; neuroticism; physical health