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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Association Between Sleep Quality and Cognitive Symptoms in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder
Published on: April 26, 2024
Specificity of symptoms of depression in Alzheimer disease: a longitudinal analysis
Sergio E Starkstein1, Romina Mizrahi, Laura Garau
1Education Building T-7, Fremantle Hospital, Fremantle, 6959 WA, Australia. ses@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
Objective:
Authors examined the temporal stability of symptoms of major and minor depression and apathy in dementia.
Methods:
A consecutive sample of 65 patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and depression at baseline evaluation received a follow-up psychiatric assessment that included the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression an average of 17 months later.
Results:
Half of the sample had no depression at follow-up, and showed a significant improvement in sadness, guilt, suicidal ideation, disruption in sleep, loss of interest, loss of energy, thoughts of death, social withdrawal, psychomotor changes, changes in appetite/weight, and symptoms of anxiety. No significant changes were found on scores of irritability or apathy.
Conclusions:
The study demonstrates the specificity of depressive symptoms in AD and suggests that apathy and depression are different behavioral domains.
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