Can timely intervention for depression also reduce the risk of dementia? Biological Psychiatry gives you the answer

Executive summary

On October 17, 2022, a new study published in Biological Psychiatry showed that timely intervention for depression can reduce the risk of developing dementia in the future
.

Screenshot of the review

status quo

Previous studies examining whether depression therapies such as medication and psychotherapy could reduce the risk of dementia have had mixed results, an issue that has not been addressed
.

Jin-Tai Yu, MD, from Huashan Hospital of Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, said:

• Over time, older adults seem to experience different patterns of
  depression.
  

• Variability of depressive symptoms within individuals may confer different dementia risks and heterogeneity in the efficacy of treatment to prevent dementia-related depression
  .
  

conclusion

The researchers used the UK Biobank database, which collects data
from more than 500,000 participants.
The current study included more than 350,000 participants, 46,280 of whom suffered from depression
.
Over the course of the study, 725 people with depression developed dementia
.

To address this heterogeneity, the researchers divided participants into four modes of depression:

• In the increasing phase, mild symptoms increase steadily in the early stages;

• the course of mitigation, which begins with moderate or highly severe symptoms, but then gradually decreases;

• Chronic course of persistent severe depressive symptoms;

• Chronic depression, where mild or moderate depressive symptoms persist.
  
  

The researchers found

• As expected, the study found that depression increased the risk of dementia by up to 51 percent
  .
  

• However, the degree of risk depends on the course of depression; Those who are in an increasing phase, with persistent severe depressive symptoms, or with persistent mild or moderate depressive symptoms, are more likely to develop dementia, while those in the process of remission are no more at greater risk
  of dementia than those without depression.
  

• Overall, people with depression who received treatment had about a 30%
  lower risk of dementia than those who did not receive treatment.
  When the researchers distinguished participants by course of depression, they found that those with an increasing duration of depression and a lower long-term duration had a lower risk of developing dementia after treatment, but those with a higher long-term course did not benefit
  from treatment in terms of dementia risk.
  

prospect

Dr.
Wei Cheng from the Institute of Brain-Inspired Intelligence Science and Technology at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, said:

• This suggests that providing depression treatment to those with older people with depression may not only relieve emotional symptoms, but may also delay the onset
  of dementia.
  

• Differences in treatment outcomes between different modes of depression may explain the results of previous studies and why some depression treatments may reduce the risk of dementia and others may
  not.
  

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