Depression Linked to Cognitive Decline

Depressive symptoms occur in as many as 63% of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and some studies suggest an increased dementia risk in individuals with a history of depression. Edo Richard, from the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands), and colleagues evaluated the association of late-life depression with MCI and dementia in a group of 2,160 community-dwelling Medicare recipients.  Finding that depression was related to a higher risk of prevalent MCI and dementia, incident dementia, and progression from prevalent MCI to dementia, but not to incident MCI, the study authors submit that the data “suggests that depression accompanies cognitive impairment but does not precede it.”