Inflammation, dopaminergic decline, and psychomotor slowing as pathologic routes to late life depression

LLD affects 3% of community-dwelling adults over 60 years old, and 15% of older adults have clinically significant depressive symptoms. LLD increases an older adult's risk of disability by 67-73% over 6 year follow up, causes twice the functional impairment compared to those without LLD, increases mortality in patients with heart disease, and is associated with high rates of completed suicide in individuals over 65. LLD is highly recurrent, can become chronic, and is often difficult to treat. Decreased processing speed has been repeatedly found in patients with LLD relative to healthy controls and mediates the effects of depression and executive dysfunction on daily functioning.
Source: The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry - Category: Geriatrics Authors: Source Type: research