Dementia

Research on macular degeneration detailed by B.W. Rovner and co-authors

"Three-year observational study after a clinical trial. Community follow-up of outpatients ascertained from retina clinics. One hundred sixty patients with AMD. Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) administered every 2 weeks for 6 months to subjects; Informant Questionnaire for Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) administered to subjects' knowledgeable informants. Twenty-three subjects (14.4%) declined cognitively. Age, education, baseline GDS score >= 5, and variability in GDS scores (i.e., fluctuations between adjacent time points) were associated with cognitive decline. For GDS variability, each 1 unit increase in the residual standard deviation (SD) of the GDS increased the risk for cognitive decline by 93% (IDR = 1.92; 95% CI [1.27-2.91]). Thus, subjects with a residual SD of 1 were nearly twice as likely to become demented as subjects with no variability in GDS scores. The risk for subjects with SDs of 2 increased more than threefold (IDR = 3.68; 95% CI [1.61-8.47]). A multiple regression analysis showed that GDS variability was a significant risk factor for dementia after controlling for significant covariates. These data suggest a useful approach to conceptualizing and measuring depressive symptoms in older persons," wrote B.W. Rovner and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "Variability in self-reported mood may be an early sign of dementia and may offer new insights into the neurobiological mechanisms linking depression and cognition. (Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2009; 17:574-581)."

Rovner and colleagues published their study in American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (Variability in Depressive Symptoms Predicts Cognitive Decline in Age-Related Macular Degeneration. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2009;17(7):574-581).

For additional information, contact B.W. Rovner, Jefferson Hospital Neuroscience, 900 Walnut St., 4th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.

The publisher of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 530 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19106-3621, USA.

Keywords: United States, Philadelphia, Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Central Nervous System Disease, Clinical Trial Research, Dementia, Depression, Geriatric Psychiatry, Macular Degeneration, Mental Health.

This article was prepared by Pain & Central Nervous System Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2009, Pain & Central Nervous System Week via NewsRx.com.