Study links depression in mid-life and late life to increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s

Study links depression in mid-life and late life to increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s

http://www.womenshealthmatters.ca/news/archive/2012/depression-dementia-alzheimer%E2%80%99s

Study links depression in mid-life and late life to increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s


May 7, 2012
By Patricia Nicholson

New research suggests that mid-life and late-life depression may be linked to the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

The study looked at history of depression in more than 13,000 older adults (average age 81). Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco compared incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in people with no history of depression to incidence in those who had experienced depression in mid-life, late life or both.

The results showed that people who were depressed at mid-life had a 19 per cent higher risk of developing any form of dementia compared to people with no history of depression. Those who were depressed in late life had a 72 per cent increased risk of any form dementia, and those who were depressed at both mid-life and late life had a 77 per cent higher risk.

When the researchers looked at specific types of dementia, they found that risk of Alzheimer’s disease was doubled both in people with late-life depression, and those with both mid-life and late-life depression.

Risk of vascular dementia (dementia caused by reduced blood flow to the brain) was also increased in people with either late-life or both mid-life and late-life depression. Late-life depression was linked to a 47 per cent increased risk of vascular dementia, and having both mid-life and late-life depression was associated with more than triple the risk of vascular dementia (3.51 times the risk).

These results suggest that depression may play a role in the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and that depression that begins in late life may be a very early symptom of dementia or Alzheimer’s.

The study was published online in Archives of General Psychiatry on May 7, 2012.