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Depression increases risk of Alzheimer’s
Disease
Newswise — People who have had depression
are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s
disease than people who have never had
depression, according to a study published
in the April 8, 2008, issue of Neurology®,
the medical journal of the American Academy
of Neurology.
The study involved 486 people age 60 to 90
who had no dementia. Of those, 134 people
had experienced at least one episode of
depression that prompted them to seek
medical advice.
The participants were followed for an
average of six years. During that time 33
people developed Alzheimer’s disease. People
who had experienced depression were 2.5
times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s
disease than people who had never had
depression. The risk was even higher for
those whose depression occurred before the
age of 60; they were nearly four times more
likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those
with no depression.
“We don’t know yet whether depression
contributes to the development of
Alzheimer’s disease or whether another
unknown factor causes both depression and
dementia,” said study author Monique M.B.
Breteler, MD, PhD, with the Erasmus
University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the
Netherlands. “We’ll need to do more studies
to understand the relationship between
depression and dementia.”
One theory was that depression leads to loss
of cells in two areas of the brain, the
hippocampus and the amygdala, which then
contributes to Alzheimer’s disease. But this
study found no difference in the size of
these two brain areas between people with
depression and people who had never had
depression.
The study also assessed whether the
participants had symptoms of depression at
the start of the study. But those with
depressive symptoms at the start of the
study were not more likely to develop
Alzheimer’s than those with no depression at
the start of the study.
The study was supported by the Netherlands
Organization for Scientific Research and the
Health Research and Development Council.
The American Academy of Neurology, an
association of more than 21,000 neurologists
and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated
to improving patient care through education
and research. A neurologist is a doctor with
specialized training in diagnosing, treating
and managing disorders of the brain and
nervous system such as stroke, Alzheimer’s
disease, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and
multiple sclerosis.
For more information about the American
Academy of Neurology, visit
http://www.aan.com.
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