Posted: July 28, 2010
Title: People with Depression May Be at Greater Risk for Dementia
Date: 07-28-2010
Time: 1:00:00 am EDT
According to new analyses of data about the 949 participants in the renowned Framingham Heart Study, having symptoms of depression at the time of entering the study significantly increased the likelihood of later developing dementia. The mean age of participants on entering the study was 79, according to the article outlining the results in the July 6 issue of the medical journal Neurology, and researchers followed them for an average of eight and a half years. Seventeen percent of the overall cohort developed dementia; yet, among those with depression, 22 percent developed dementia. Depression raised the risk of developing dementia by 72 percent, the researchers found. The New York Times quoted Dr. Jane Saczynski, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester: “[I]t is very clear that depression is a risk factor for dementia rather than a consequence of the disease.”
Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/health/research/20risk.html?ref=science
http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/75/1/35
