J Korean Geriatr Psychiatry.  2015 Oct;19(2):55-64. 10.0000/jkgp.2015.19.2.55.

Cognitive Impairments in Clinically Stable Late-Life Depression : Relationship to Cardiovascular Risk : A Pilot Study

• Hwang I
• Yim SJ
• Lee JN
• Song YY
• Hong K
• Hong MH
• Yoon HJ
• Eom J

• KMID: 2186127
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/jkgp.2015.19.2.55

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that cardiovascular risk is associated with cognitive impairments in clinically stable late-life depression.
METHODS
A total of 59 clinically stable late-life depression patients over age 60 were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Evaluation tools used in this study include Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, Geriatric Depression Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Framingham general cardiovascular disease risk profile and the cognitive function battery designed for this study. Correlation analysis, analysis of variance and analysis of covariance were performed.
RESULTS
Patients with higher cardiovascular risk performed significantly poorer in the domains of executive function and short-term or long-term memory. In models adjusted for age, sex, education, 10% higher cardiovascular risk was associated with poorer executive function.
CONCLUSION
Our findings suggested that cardiovascular risk could be a significant factor associated with poor executive function in clinically stable late-life depression and the management which is necessary as a component of treatment planning. This pilot study provided good prospects for future studies to document this relationship on larger samples.

Keyword

Late-life depression; Cardiovascular risk; Cognitive impairments; Executive function

MeSH Terms

Anxiety
Cardiovascular Diseases
Cross-Sectional Studies
Depression*
Education
Executive Function
Humans
Memory, Long-Term
Pilot Projects*