Past Depression and Current Poor Sleep? Watch Out for Depression Recurrence

Although sleep disturbances commonly occur during depressive episodes, we do not know whether inter-episode sleep disturbances predict subsequent depressive episodes. In a 2-year substudy using enrollees from a trial of a herpes zoster vaccine, these researchers prospectively followed 351 community-living individuals age 60 and older; 145 had histories of a prior depressive episode (median remission, 10 years), and 206 had no prior or current depression (control subjects).

In the prior-depression group at baseline, median severity of depressive symptoms was none or minimal; 32% were using antidepressant medications, but 46% reported clinical sleep disturbances. The cumulative incidence of depressive disorders in the prior-depression group wa…