The impact of self-reported depressive symptoms on memory function in neurological outpatients

Objectives: To examine the effect of self-reported depressive symptoms on memory function in a non-psychiatric, non-litigation outpatient sample and to identify which memory tests may be most susceptible for depression-related decline. Methods: Self-reported depressive symptoms were measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and memory function was assessed using a wide range of neuropsychological memory tests (digit span, word-list learning, visuospatial learning, incidental memory, story recall). Patients who visited the neurological outpatients clinic and were referred for a neuropsychological examination were included (N = 50). Result: Correlation analyses showed that the BDI-II was significantly correlated with immediate story recall, delayed verbal recognition and the digit span. Furthermore, patients with mild or moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms performed worse than non-depressed patients on immediate story recall, but not on any of the other memory tests. Discussion: Memory performance is only minimally disrupted in neurological outpatients with depressive symptoms compared to non-depressed outpatients. These results are discussed in relation to limited mental effort and weak encoding in patients with self-reported depressive symptoms. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.