Amyloid Burden: A Reason for Poor Antidepressant Response in Late-Life Depression?

Accumulation of cortical amyloid-β (Aβ) has been associated with greater depressive symptoms in cognitively intact older adults. Higher cortical Aβ burden and late-life depression (LLD) are independently associated with risks for cognitive decline and Alzheimer disease. Also, our current antidepressants have poor efficacy for treating depression in people with dementia, although the influence that Aβ burden has on treatment resistance is unknown. The present investigators hypothesized that cortical Aβ burden in cognitively intact individuals with LLD would be associated with poorer antidepressant response.

The 27 individuals aged 60 or older had major depression but no evidence of dementia and were participating in a larger double-blind, con…