Depression Linked to Memory, Brain Atrophy and Infarcts in Seniors

A prospective cohort study in the US revealed that greater depressive symptoms were associated with worse episodic memory, smaller cerebral volume, and silent infarcts. The study included 1,111 stroke-free older adults with an average age of 71 between 2003 and 2008, 52% were Caribbean Hispanic. 22% of participants had greater depressive symptoms (A Center of Epidemiological Studies–Depression score ≥16) at baseline. Greater depressive symptoms were significantly associated with worse baseline episodic memory, smaller cerebral parenchymal fraction and increased odds of subclinical brain infarcts over an average of 5 years. The findings suggest that greater depressive symptoms may be related to general brain atrophy due to either vascular or neurodegenerative processes. Source: http://n.neurology.org/