Vascular Dementia, Depression, and Financial Capacity Assessment

We still know little about financial capacity, which consists of multiple cognitive domains as well as specific skills, and the influence of depression in patients with vascular dementia (VaD). Participants were divided into 4 groups: (1) VaD with and (2) without depressive symptoms, (3) nondemented elders with and (4) without depression. The participants were examined with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), and the Legal Capacity for Property Law Transactions Assessment Scale (LCPLTAS). The findings extend earlier work in other groups of older patients and indicate that VaD patients' performance in cognitive functioning and financial capacity is severely impaired, while there is a statistically significant difference between depressed and nondepressed VaD patients. Thus, depression negatively influences financial capacity. Depression and mood disorders should be considered in future capacity research with older adults and with larger VaD populations.