Depression in Elderly May Predict Dementia

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WebMD

 Depression is common among older people who go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease, leading to widespread speculation that it may be one possible cause for age-related dementias.

Now, a new study suggests that rather than being a cause of memory decline, depression in older people may be an early symptom ofdementia.

When researchers evaluated 2,000 elderly New Yorkers for depression and then followed them, they found that depression accompanied memory declines but did not necessarily come first.

Depression Predicted Dementia

Having memory problems that are not severe enough to be diagnosed as dementia, but that are more pronounced than the changes associated with normal aging, is known as mild cognitive impairment. Many people with MCI develop dementia, but some do not.

The new research shows that having mild cognitive impairment along with depression doubled the risk of developing full-blown dementia.

But researcher Jose A. Luchsinger, MD, MPH, of Columbia University Medical Center, says depression appears to be a symptom that accompanies age-relatedmemory loss, such as mild cognitive impairment, rather than a separate risk factor for it.

It also means that depression among the elderly should be recognized as a possible early warning sign of age-related memory decline.

The study was published online today in the journal Archives of Neurology.

“When depression and memory complaints occur together in the elderly it is often assumed that the memory problems are caused by the depression,” Luchsinger says. “The thinking is often that by treating the depression the memory problems will go away, but this may not be the case.”

Memory Loss May Lead to Depression

He says older people who are depressed and have memory complaints should be evaluated for mild cognitive impairment or other early signs of dementia.

Neurologist Gayatri Devi, MD, of New York City’s Lenox Hill Hospital, says it makes sense that older people with early memory loss would be more vulnerable to depression.

“Especially in the early stages when people realize that something is not quite right but they don’t really understand what is happening, it is natural to become depressed,” she says.

Devi agrees that depression and memory loss in older patients are too often lumped together instead of being evaluated separately.

“Depression may be related to (memory) decline or it may be totally unrelated,” she says. “From a clinical perspective it is important to understand this. If a patient comes to me in her 70s or 80s with no history of depression and no clear reason for depression, such as the loss of a spouse or a child, I will certainly consider cognitive loss as a possible reason and do the appropriate tests.”

By Salynn Boyles

Sharp as a Tack at 90: Here is Why

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Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care  professionals to get an easyceu or two

Follow alzheimersideas on twitter

The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition

HealthDay News

Elderly people who experience no decline in memory have certain brain characteristics that differ from their peers who show more typical age-related memory loss, new research reveals.

Scientists from Northwestern University's Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center identified 12 people aged 80 and older who did as well or better on memory tests as people who were 20 to 30 years younger. Researchers dubbed them "SuperAgers."

MRI scans showed that the cortex of SuperAgers was thicker than a comparison group of people aged 80 and older. The cortex is the outer layer of the brain involved in memory, attention and other thinking abilities.

A thinning cortex suggests a loss of brain cells, or gray matter, explained senior study author Emily Rogalski, an assistant research professor at Northwestern.

Brain scans also showed that people in their 80s and 90s who exhibited more typical memory declines (though not the marked decline associated with Alzheimer's disease or other thinking impairments, researchers said) had a thinner cortex.

Brain scans also showed that people in their 80s and 90s who exhibited more typical memory declines (though not the marked decline associated with Alzheimer's disease or other thinking impairments, researchers said) had a thinner cortex.

"The SuperAgers looked more like the middle-aged controls, despite being 20 to 30 years older," Rogalski said. "We didn't see any significant atrophy or brain cell loss."

The study is published in the current issue of the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.

Some degree of forgetfulness is a common complaint among the elderly, Rogalski said. "These complaints are so widespread that it's come to be thought of as a normal part of aging," she noted.

Many prior studies have shown that brain atrophy and loss of thinking abilities go hand in hand, said Dr. Russell Swerdlow, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center at the University of Kansas.

This study is unique in that it starts with people with exceptionally good memories for their age, and then looks at what makes their brains different, he said.

He noted, however, that the study shows a correlation between good memories in later life and a thicker cortex and larger brain volume, but it doesn't show cause-and-effect. What is unknown is if retaining brain volume protects thinking abilities, or if maintaining thinking abilities protects brain volume.

"It could be that those whose brains are better 'built to last' structurally are probably those brains that are better built to last from a functional perspective, or that those who are exercising their brains may have less atrophy," he said.

At the same time, SuperAgers also had a larger cingulate cortex, another brain region also involved in attention and memory, than even the middle-aged participants. What's unknown is if SuperAgers were born with a more prominent cingulate cortex or if that region resisted atrophy in later life, according to the study.

With studies like this, one thing people want to know is what it takes to be among the SuperAgers. Unfortunately, there aren't yet any clear answers, Rogalski said.

"Genetics are likely to play a role. And, in general, a healthy lifestyle is supportive of good memory," Rogalski said. "But in our experience, some of our SuperAgers have been smoking a pack of cigarettes for the last 20 years. Others have never touched them. Some go to the gym three to five days a week. Others don't exercise. Some are still working and others have never worked. It seems there might be more than one route to being a SuperAger."

More information

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has more on the brain.

Incomplete Memories Formed with Dementia

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

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Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities



AC Content

Scientists found that the ability of the brain to maintain complete, detailed memories is disrupted with dementia.The scientists are hopeful that their research could lead to new treatments that should reduce the
confusion between memories,

"This study suggests that a major component of memory problems may actually be confusion between memories, rather than loss of memories per se," said Dr Lisa Saksida.

"This is consistent with reports of memory distortions in dementia - for example, patients may not switch off the cooker, or may fail to take their medication, not because they have forgotten that they should do these things, but because they think they have already done so," she added.
As part of the research, animals were shown an object and then, after an hour, were given a memory test in which they were either shown the same object again, or a new object.

Normal animals spent more time exploring the new object, indicating that they remembered the old object. Amnesic animals, performed poorly on the memory task, because they spent the same amount of time exploring the old and the new object.
Interestingly, some amnesic animals looked at the new object less than the normal animals did, showing false memory for the new object.

Saksida continued, "One thing that we found very surprising about our results was the extent of the memory recovery, achieved simply by reducing the incoming information prior to the memory test.
"Not only does this result confound our expectations, but it also gives us a ...read all of Incomplete Memories Formed with Dementia

Why Do Memory Problems Strike Men Harder? (part 2)

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Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

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Why Do Memory Problems Strike Men Harder?

“This is the first study conducted among community-dwelling persons to find a higher prevalence of MCI in men,” said study author Ronald Petersen, MD, PhD, with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “If these results are confirmed in other studies, it may suggest that factors related to gender play a role in the disease. For example, men may experience cognitive decline earlier in life but more gradually, whereas women may transition from normal memory directly to dementia at a later age but more quickly.”

For the study, 2,050 people between the ages of 70 to 89 in Olmstead County, Minn. were interviewed about their memory and their medical history and tested on their memory and thinking skills.

The study found that nearly 14 percent of participants had mild cognitive impairment, about 10 percent had dementia and 76 percent of those tested had normal memory and thinking skills. A total of 19 percent of men had mild cognitive impairment, compared to 14 percent of women.

“The finding that the frequency of mild cognitive impairment is greater in men was unexpected, since the frequency of Alzheimer’s disease is actually greater in women. It warrants further study,” says Ronald Petersen, M.D., Ph.D., neurologist and director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. “If we consider the 16 percent prevalence of mild cognitive impairment in individuals without dementia, then add the 10-11 percent of individuals who already have dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, we’re looking at 25 percent or more of the population aged 70 or older who have dementia or are at risk of developing dementia in the near future. With the aging of America, these numbers are staggering and the impact on the health care economy, as well as on individuals and their families, is quite impressive. The need for early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention is increasingly important.”