Depressive symptoms are associated with late life cognitive decline independent of common age-related pathologies

ABSTRACT FROM : Wilson RS, Capuano AW, Boyle PA, et al . Clinical-pathologic study of depressive symptoms and cognitive decline in old age. Neurology 2014;83:702–9. Depressive symptoms have been shown to contribute to cognitive decline.1 However, the mechanism underlying this relationship is not well known. Some studies have shown an association between major depression and increased regional Alzheimer's disease pathology.2 Other studies focusing on depressive symptoms have not found such an association.1 Whether depression or depressive symptoms are manifestations of a neurodegenerative process or independent agents contributing to late life cognitive decline is not well understood. Five hundred and eighty of the 1764 elderly participants of two longitudinal studies, the Religious Order Study and the Rush Aging and Memory Project, who were cognitively intact at entry, were followed on average for 8 years until death and were included in the current study for having autopsy …