|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Lifetime Depression Links to Alzheimer's Through
Tangles in the Brain
Increased plaque and tangles also lead to more
rapid cognitive decline
Feb. 6, 2006 - Previous studies have linked
depression and Alzheimer’s disease but a new study is adding more light
on this association. A lifetime history of depression is associated with
increased plaques and tangles in the brains of those with Alzheimer’s
disease and more rapid cognitive decline, according to a study in the
February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the
JAMA/Archives journals.
People with a lifetime history of major depressive
disorder (MDD) may be more likely to be diagnosed with AD. In addition,
both AD and MDD are likely to affect the brain’s memory-related temporal
lobes.
MDD is likely to caused atrophy of the hippocampus,
the area where the largest amounts of plaques and tangles form in
patients with AD, the authors write.
To assess how MDD might affect the development of
AD, Michael A. Rapp, M.D., Ph.D., Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New
York, and colleagues compared the brains of 44 AD patients with a
history of depression to those of 51 without. The group included 32 men
and 63 women with an average age at death of 81 years.
Patients with a history of depression had more
tangles and plaques in the hippocampus than those without, the authors
report.
People who were depressed at the time they were
diagnosed with AD had even more pronounced changes in their brains than
those whose depression occurred earlier or later.
Based on analyses of cognitive tests given during
participants’ lifetimes, patients with AD who had a history of
depression also experienced a more rapid decline into dementia than
those who did not have depression.
“These results have great clinical significance in
that the identification of potential mechanisms that link geriatric MDD
as a treatable risk factor to neuropathological changes in AD may lead
to the development of differential intervention and prevention
strategies for AD,” the authors conclude.
“Such specific interventions would be especially
needed since geriatric patients with MDD with cognitive impairment may
have less favorable treatment outcomes.”
(Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63:161-167.
Editor’s Note: This study was supported in part by
grants from the National Institute on Aging.
Click here to Search SeniorJournal.com for more on
this subject
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
