Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 23, 2026

A Method of Trigonometric Modelling of Seasonal Variation Demonstrated with Multiple Sclerosis Relapse Data
Published on: December 9, 2015
Executive functioning, illness course, and relapse/recurrence in continuation and maintenance treatment of late-life
Meryl A Butters1, Rishi K Bhalla, Benoit H Mulsant
1Intervention Research Center for Late-Life Mood Disorders, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, USA. buttersma@upmc.edu
Objective:
The authors tested the hypothesis that impaired executive functioning leads to high rates of relapse and recurrence in late-life depression.
Methods:
They analyzed data from subjects participating in two independent intervention trials. Study I included 53 elderly depressed patients who participated in an open trial comparing the efficacy of paroxetine and nortriptyline and recurrence prevention over 18 months. Study II focused on 146 elderly depressed patients who received open treatment with paroxetine in a relapse-prevention study over 4 months of continuation treatment. They examined the effect of cognitive functioning, in general, and executive functioning, in particular, on time-to-relapse/recurrence, using baseline and post-treatment measures of neuropsychological functioning.
Results:
The associations between cognitive measures and both probability of, and time-to-relapse/recurrence were small and statistically nonsignificant.
Conclusion:
Data failed to support the hypothesis that cognitive impairment, in general, or executive dysfunction, in particular, predicts relapse or recurrence of major depression in late life. Authors recommend future testing of the hypothesis with detailed, comprehensive measures over longer periods of observation during maintenance trials.
Related Concept Videos
Classification of Illness
An illness is a response to a disease in which the person's level of functioning is changed compared with a previous level. The general classification of illness includes acute and chronic.
Acute illness is severe and...
Psychosis: Goals of Pharmacotherapy
Psychological and Sociocultural Causes of Schizophrenia
Antidepressant Drugs: MAOIs and Other Agents
Long-term Depression
Calcium Ion Concentration Mechanism
If over time, all...
Long-term Depression