Having depression may nearly double the risk of developing dementia later in life, new research suggests.
Experts know that the two conditions often co-exist, but it is not clear if one actually leads to the other.
Now two studies published in the American journal Neurology suggest depression does mean dementia is more likely, although they do not show why.
And the researchers stress that the findings merely reveal a link, not a direct cause.
They say more studies are needed to find out why the two conditions are linked.
They believe brain chemistry and lifestyle factors like diet and the amount of social time a person engages in may play a role.
To untangle the connection, the researchers tested 947 elderly people who had no signs of cognitive impairment at the start of the study. They were screened for depression at the outset and 125 scored high enough to be considered depressed.
Seventeen years later, 164 people had developed dementia, including 136 who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Among the people with dementia, 22 percent had been depressed at the study’s start, compared to 17 percent who were not depressed. Looking at how people scored on the 60-point depression screening test, the researchers found that for each 10-point increase, there was a 50 percent increased risk of dementia.
After accounting for age, sex, and other characteristics among the participants, depressed people were more than one and a half times more likely to develop dementia than people who were not depressed.
- Similar posts
- Walking can help prevent Alzheimer's (35.8%)
- Puzzles and crosswords may stave off dementia (30.3%)
- Exercise 'staves off depression' (29.4%)
- Dementia drug 'within our grasp' (25.3%)
- Healthy diet can cut risk of Dementia (23.1%)
- Smokers 'at increased risk of dementia' (22.3%)
- Dementia 'caused by false memories' (21.6%)
2 Responses to “Depression may double dementia risk”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
October 13th, 2010 at 11:02 am
An antidepressant prescribed to about 5,000 people in England at a cost to the NHS of almost £900,000 a year is “ineffective and potentially harmful”, academics have concluded.
They discovered that reboxetine, marketed as Edronax by Pfizer, was no more effective at countering major depression than a placebo sugar pill, after studying all available data on the drug.
In the study, published in the British Medical Journal today (WED), the German researchers found that some trials which failed to show reboxetine worked well were not submitted for publication by academic journals.
This, they said, was “a striking example of publication bias” – where academics or drug companies decide not to publish unfavourable results in peer-reviewed journals.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/8051470/Antidepressant-ineffective-and-potentially-harmful.html
October 25th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Savage government Civil Service cuts will add to already excessive stress levels in the public sector, trade unions warned on Monday.
Public-sector workers already suffer from significantly higher stress levels than those employed in the private sector and stress-related absences have increased in the last year according to a report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
The institute found that workers in the public sector took an average of 9.6 days off sick a year, three more than those working for private firms.
CIPD adviser Dr Jill Miller said: “Compared with the private sector, more public-sector employees are in challenging, public-facing roles such as social work, policing, teaching and nursing where they often have to deal with people in difficult and emotionally charged situations, putting pressure on their time and resilience.
“In addition, organisational change and restructuring is cited more commonly by public-sector employers than those in other sectors as a major cause of stress, which will only increase in the near future as a consequence of the recent Comprehensive Spending Review.”
Public-sector unions said that understaffing and the threat of redundancy hanging over thousands of workers’ heads as a result of the recent review was exacerbating the situation.
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: “Public service workers such as paramedics, nurses, social workers, child and elderly care workers come under enormous pressure dealing with often stressful and physically demanding situations.
“When you add in the threat to jobs because of the cuts and workers covering for jobs already axed, you have a lethal cocktail that takes a physical and mental toll on people’s health.”