The course of geriatric depression with "reversible dementia": a controlled study.
Am J Psychiatry
; 150(11): 1693-9, 1993 Nov.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-8105707
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
The goals of this longitudinal investigation were 1) to study the rate of development of irreversible dementia in elderly depressed patients with a dementia syndrome that subsided after improvement of depression and 2) to compare it with that of depressed, never-demented patients.METHOD:
The subjects were 57 elderly patients consecutively hospitalized for major depression. At entry into the study, 23 subjects also met criteria for "reversible dementia," while 34 were without dementia. After a systematic clinical evaluation, the subjects were followed up at approximately yearly intervals for an average of 33.8 months.RESULTS:
Irreversible dementia developed significantly more frequently in the depressed group with reversible dementia (43%) than in the group with depression alone (12%). Survival analysis showed that the group with reversible dementia had a 4.69-times higher chance of having developed dementia at follow-up than the patients with depression alone. No clinical characteristics at entry into the study were found to discriminate the subjects who developed irreversible dementia during the follow-up period from those who remained nondemented.CONCLUSIONS:
These findings suggest that geriatric depression with reversible dementia is a clinical entity that includes a group of patients with early-stage dementing disorders. Therefore, identification of a reversible dementia syndrome is an indication for a thorough diagnostic workup and frequent follow-ups in order to identify treatable neurological disorders.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Demência
/
Transtorno Depressivo
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Am J Psychiatry
Ano de publicação:
1993
Tipo de documento:
Article