Cognitive performance of community-dwelling oldest-old individuals with major depression: The Pietà study

  • Filipi Leles Da Costa Dias
  • , Antônio Lúcio Teixeira
  • , Henrique Cerqueira Guimarães
  • , Maira Tonidandel Barbosa
  • , Elisa De Paula França Resende
  • , Rogério Gomes Beato
  • , Karoline Carvalho Carmona
  • , Paulo Caramelli

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Individuals with late-life depression (LLD) may present cognitive symptoms. We sought to determine whether a brief cognitive battery (BCB) could identify cognitive and functional deficits in oldest-old individuals with LLD and a low level of education. Methods: We evaluated 639 community-dwelling individuals aged 75+ years in Caeté (MG), Brazil. We used the MINI and GDS-15 to diagnose major depression and evaluate its severity, respectively. The cognitive evaluation comprised the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), BCB, clock-drawing test, category fluency test (animals) and Pfeffer's Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ). Results: Fifty-four (11.6%) of the included individuals were diagnosed with LLD; on average, these participants were aged 81.0 ± 4.8 years and had 3.9 ± 3.4 years of schooling, and 77.8% of the subjects with LLD were female. Depressed individuals scored lower than subjects without dementia/depression on the MMSE overall (p < 0.001) and on several of the MMSE subscales, namely, time (p < 0.001) and spatial orientation (p = 0.021), attention/calculation (p = 0.019), and language (p = 0.004). Individuals with LLD performed worse on the incidental and (p = 0.011) immediate memory (p = 0.046) and learning tasks (p = 0.039) of the BCB. Individuals with LLD also performed worse on the category fluency test (p = 0.006), clock-drawing test (p = 0.011) and FAQ (p < 0.001). Depression severity was negatively correlated with incidental memory (ρ = -0.412; p = 0.003) and positively correlated with FAQ score (ρ = 0.308; p = 0.035). In the multiple regression analysis, only temporal orientation and FAQ score remained independently associated with LLD. Conclusion: Individuals with depression and a low level of education presented several cognitive and functional deficits. Depression severity was negatively correlated with incidental memory and functionality. Our findings serve as a description of the presence of cognitive dysfunction in individuals with LLD and suggest that these deficits may be identified based on the results of a BCB.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1507-1513
Number of pages7
JournalInternational Psychogeriatrics
Volume29
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • cognition
  • geriatric depression
  • late-life depression
  • oldest-old

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Psychology
  • Gerontology
  • Geriatrics and Gerontology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Cognitive performance of community-dwelling oldest-old individuals with major depression: The Pietà study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this