Depression and Dementia - Cornell Scale For Depression In Dementia

Depression and Dementia -  A group of researchers from the Center-physician of the Rushmore University, in Chicago, Illinois, United States, has conducted a new study on the relationship between dementia and depression.

The report was published in the online edition of the journal Neurology and shows that the link between depression and dementia is independent of brain changes related to this. Robert S. Wilson, a neuropsychiatrist at the Rush Alzheimer's disease center and the lead author of the study, says that, "studies have shown that people with symptoms of depression are more likely to develop dementia, but not known how this relationship"

Depression and Dementia - Cornell Scale For Depression In Dementia

For the realization of this work were 1,764 people over 77 years, belonging to the Religious Orders Study and the Rush Memory and Aging Project. At the beginning of the tests, none of the volunteers had problems cognitive impairment or dementia.

Doctors accompanied and studied patients each year, to detect symptoms of depression, such as loneliness or lack of appetite, and did their thinking and memory skills tests over a period of eight years.

At the end of the investigation it was found that a total of 680 people died during the process and in 582 of them autopsies were performed to find plates of protein beta amyloid and tangles tangles in the brain, signs of dementia and other signs of brain damage.

Throughout the study, 922 persons, i.e. 52% of participants, developed mild cognitive impairment or mild memory problems and thinking skills, common symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. 18%, i.e. 315 people, developed dementia.

Thus, people who developed mild cognitive impairment were also more likely to present a high level of depressive symptoms until they were diagnosed, but after the diagnosis the number of depressive symptoms in those who had mild cognitive impairment and those who do not.

On the other hand, the participants in the study with dementia were more likely to have more symptoms of depression before the start of dementia. However, once appear dementia, symptoms of depression decreased more rapidly. This development associated with a decrease in quick thinking and memory skills as explains the researcher Robert Wilson "our results are interesting because they suggest that depression is a risk factor for dementia, and if we can attack and prevent or treat depression and the causes of stress, may have potential to help people keep their thinking and memory skills in old age".

You can read another articles like Dementia Definition, Dementia Diagnosis, Dementia Strategy, Dealing With Dementia.



depression dementia
cornell scale for depression in dementia
depression and dementia