Cognitive determinants of late life depression
Cognitive determinants of late life depression
Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders among older adults and is often accompanied by reduced cognitive function, which can lead to early admission to a nursing home or even death.
In her doctoral research, Astrid Lugtenburg researched the relationship between depression and reduced cognitive function. Not all older adults with depression experience cognitive impairment: a study involving 375 elderly people with depression showed that about half suffer from reduced cognitive ability, some of whom also displayed physical ageing. This group in particular, was found to have the greatest risk of death within six years, compared to their non-depressed peers.
It is also notable that use of medications that can negatively affect cognitive function, such as sleeping pills and certain antidepressants (with sedative or anticholinergic effects), occurs in nine out of ten elderly people with depression, although the negative effects of these medications on cognitive function was small in this study. Furthermore, analysis of 83,613 participants from the Lifelines study showed that the negative effects of depression on cognitive function could be explained in part by (future) vascular damage.
These results highlight that the way in which depression and reduced cognitive function are linked can differ between individuals. To study this further each patient was also analysed individually. This revealed that factors contributing to cognitive impairment (such as sleep and severity of depression) vary from person to person.
It is essential that future research and treatment focus more on the individual to ensure every elderly person receives the most appropriate care, which subsequently hopefully improves their quality of life.