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[Depression in Alzheimer type-dementia: is there any effect on memory performance]
I Contador-Castillo1, B Fernández-Calvo, L J Cacho-Gutiérrez
1Departamento de Psicología, Universidad de Evora, Evora, Portugal. icontador@usal.es
Revista De Neurologia
|October 28, 2009
Summary
Depression significantly impairs memory in non-demented individuals. However, in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, co-occurring depression did not worsen memory deficits compared to those without depression.
Area of Science:
- Neuropsychiatry
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Gerontology
Context:
- Depression is a common comorbidity in Alzheimer's disease (AD).
- Understanding the impact of depression on cognitive function in AD is crucial for patient care.
- Early AD and unipolar depression (UD) present overlapping symptoms, necessitating clear diagnostic differentiation.
Purpose:
- To investigate whether depression exacerbates verbal and non-verbal memory impairments in early Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients.
- To compare memory performance across AD patients with and without depression, patients with UD, and healthy subjects (HS).
Summary:
- Patients with AD demonstrated significantly lower verbal memory scores than HS and UD groups.
- Recognition was the sole non-verbal memory measure distinguishing AD from UD groups.
- No significant differences in memory performance were observed between AD patients with and without depression.
Impact:
- Depression is linked to memory impairment in non-demented individuals.
- The findings suggest that depression does not independently worsen memory deficits in established AD.
- This research aids in understanding the complex interplay between depression and cognition in neurodegenerative diseases.
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