Dementia and depression: Co-distribution and risk factors in a geriatric in- and outpatient sample

The results of a cross-sectional study on N = 212 elderly in- and outpatients are presented including sociodemographic data, physical findings, CAT-scan and EEG, as well as psychological tests for cognitive performance and affective symptoms. Forty-one percent of the patients showed mild and 13% severe cognitive deficits. Depression was diagnosed in 23% of the severely impaired and in 16% of the cognitively mildly impaired or unimpaired patients. Statistical analysis revealed that increasing age, female sex and low premorbid intellectual level were significantly associated with loss of cognitive function. Dementia and depression were not significantly associated with each other. The only risk factor for depression was a history of affective illness, but not cognitive deficits or social situation. CAT-scan and EEG were abnormal in 50% of the patients; however, this did not correlate with cognitive impairment or the presence of depression. From this study it is concluded that depression and dementia coincide frequently in elderly patients, but that they are associated with different risk factors It is suggested that dementia and depression are treated as two distinct disease entities.