THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEPRESSION AND DEMENTIA IN OLD-AGE

Recent research suggests that we should re-evaluate traditional views about the relationship between depression and dementia. It is well known that depression occurs frequently in the early stages of dementia of the Alzheimer type, equally cognitive changes may manifest themselves in the course of depression. The latter changes have been investigated in detail by a variety of neuropsychological tests. It is evident that intellectual impairment is more common than previously suggested in depression and that it is not always totally reversible. Cases in which this occurs have enlarged ventricles on CT scanning. Also the proportion of depressed patients developing dementia at follow-up may be higher than early follow-up studies had suggested. Also cases of Alzheimer's dementia have more than the expected previous history of depression and a recent case control study reports that depression in the previous 10 years but not earlier is a risk factor for the disease. The significance of these findings will be discussed and proposals for further research suggested.