Study: To fight dementia, fight depression and stress

“Studies have shown that people with symptoms of depression are more likely to develop dementia, but we haven’t known how the relationship works,” said study author Robert S. Wilson, PhD, with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “Is the depression a consequence of the dementia? Do both problems develop from the same underlying problems in the brain? Or does the relationship of depression with dementia have nothing to do with dementia-related pathology?”… “These findings are exciting because they suggest depression truly is a risk factor for dementia, and if we can target and prevent or treat depression and causes of stress we may have the potential to help people maintain their thinking and memory abilities into old age,” Wilson said… Participants were screened every year for symptoms of depression, such as loneliness and lack of appetite, and took tests on their thinking and memory skills for an average of eight years. A total of 680 people died during the study, and autopsies were performed on 582 of them to look for the plaques and tangles in the brain that are the signs of dementia and other signs of damage in the brain… Having a higher level of depression symptoms was associated with more rapid decline in thinking and memory skills, accounting for 4.4 percent of the difference in decline that could not be attributed to the level of damage in the brain.” The abstract of the study, from the online issue of Neurology®, is available Here. Learn ...
Source: SharpBrains - Category: Neurologists Authors: Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Health & Wellness dementia depression fight dementia fight depression memory abilities thinking abilities treatment Source Type: blogs