Mild Cognitive Impairment and Persistent Depression: Worse Together Than Alone

Among patients with MCI, depressive symptoms that lasted for 2 years were associated with a high rate of conversion to Alzheimer disease.

Neurobiological changes in people with late-onset depression and in those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are similar, pointing to overlapping pathology that suggests both conditions may be precursors of Alzheimer disease (AD; JW Psychiatry Apr 23 2012). Researchers prospectively studied 243 people with MCI to examine the relation between depressive symptoms and progression to AD.

Patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging and cognitive testing at baseline and at 2 years. Tensor-based morphometry was used to detect tissue-volume loss in three dimensions. A caregiver questionnaire was used for identification of depressive and other neuropsychiatric symptoms. At baseline, 106 patients had no neuropsychiatric symptoms (asymptomatic grou…

Reviewing Author

Steven Dubovsky, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportTower Foundation; Patrick Lee Foundation; Boehringer Ingelheim; Intra-Cellular Therapies; Janssen; Biogen; Allergan

Editorial BoardsMind and Brain; Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic; Current Psychiatry; Journal of Psychosomatic Research

Steven Dubovsky, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportTower Foundation; Patrick Lee Foundation; Boehringer Ingelheim; Intra-Cellular Therapies; Janssen; Biogen; Allergan

Editorial BoardsMind and Brain; Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic; Current Psychiatry; Journal of Psychosomatic Research

Mild Cognitive Impairment and Persistent Depression: Worse Together Than Alone

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Reviewing Author