Comparisons of Neurocognitive Functions in Patients with Late-Life Depression versus Normal Elderly, and Association with Changes of Depressive Symptoms in a 3-Month Follow-Up.
- Author:
Hyewon KIM
1
;
Kwan Woo CHOI
;
Eun Jin NA
;
Han Kyeong LEE
;
Hong Jin JEON
Author Information
1. Department of Psychiatry, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. jeonhj@skku.edu
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Late-life depression;
Neuropsychological assessment;
Cognition
- MeSH:
Aged*;
Cognition;
Depression*;
Executive Function;
Follow-Up Studies*;
Humans;
Memory;
Prospective Studies
- From:Journal of Korean Geriatric Psychiatry
2018;22(2):76-83
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the neurocognitive functions of patients with late-life depression compared to healthy controls and their association with improvement of depressive symptoms. METHODS: We compared the results of neurocognitive tests between 41 patients with late-life depression and 20 healthy controls at baseline and 3 months later prospectively. And then we investigated the association of change of cognitive function and improvement of depressive symptoms in patients with late-life depression. RESULTS: Patients with late-life depression showed significantly impaired results in neurocognitive tests especially in domains of language, memory and frontal executive function compared to healthy control. However, after 3 months of treatment of depression, there was no association between the change of results of neurocognitive tests and the changes of scores of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D). CONCLUSION: Impairment of cognitive functions in late-life depression includes the domains of language, memory and executive function and after 3 months of treatment of depression, there was no association of improvement of depressive symptom and cognitive change in patients with late-life depression.
