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Query: UMLS:C0011570 (depression)
 172,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep measures distinguish elderly patients with depression from those with dementia. The authors used a 2-night REM sleep deprivation (RSD) protocol to characterize patients with mixed symptoms of depression and dementia in comparison with patients with "pure" depression or dementia and healthy controls. Mixed-symptom patients resembled dementia patients in baseline sleep measures, but their large change in phasic REM activity following RSD suggests neurobiological similarities to depression. Mixed-symptom patients with stable cognitive impairment had greater REM sleep rebound than those with a more progressive dementing course. These results are consistent with previous neuropathological and neurochemical data.
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PMID:Rapid eye movement sleep deprivation in elderly patients with concurrent symptoms of depression and dementia. 149 77

Over the past decade we have seen a shift in the strategy for the treatment of hypertension, from stepped therapy--involving a highly structured, unvarying series of steps--to recommendations for more individualized treatment. How shall we accomplish that goal? Severe hypertension provides a clear indication to bypass earlier recommendations. Demographic data such as age, gender, and race, often cited, have proved less helpful. Concomitant medical problems, which are found in greater than 50% of hypertensive patients, are most often the crucial determinants in the selection of antihypertensive therapy. Concurrent coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, azotemia, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, borderline cognitive dysfunction, anxiety, and depression are all common. Each has implications for antihypertensive therapy. Moreover, blood pressure reduction is a surrogate for our real goal, which is reduction of cardiovascular risk. Thus, consideration of concomitant medical problems has extended to left ventricular hypertrophy, obesity, hyperlipidemia, and insulin resistance as additional risk factors in hypertension. Consideration of all of these factors makes it possible to individualize antihypertensive therapy in most patients.
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PMID:Evolution of the treatment of hypertension: what really matters in the 1990s? 151 35

Multi-infarct dementia (MID) and dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) are the main syndromes in the elderly. This study aims at evaluating the possible differentiation of these syndromes on a clinical basis. The patient population consisted of demented patients hospitalized during the period April 1, 1988-September 30, 1990 at the Department of Cerebrovascular Diseases. The study included 40 patients with MID and 25 with DAT. The clinical diagnosis of dementia included medical history, neurological examination, psychiatric interview and laboratory diagnostic investigations. The severity of the dementia symptoms was rated by many rating scales and a battery of neuropsychological tests. This model of clinical procedure permitted for differential diagnosis between vascular and degenerative dementia, according to DSM-III-R criteria. Patients with multi-infarct dementia of the Alzheimer type did not differ significantly with regard to age, mean duration of cognitive impairment and level of education. In the DAT group women outnumbered men, and this was statistically significant. It should be emphasized, that a great majority of patients with cerebrovascular lesions developed early cognitive impairment, that means within the first year after stroke. In the MID group hypertension, heart disease and smoking were statistically more frequent than in the DAT group. For the preliminary evaluation the severity of cognitive impairment was quantified by Mini-Mental State and Dementia Scale. These scales showed that the degree of dementia was significantly greater in DAT patients as compared to MID patients, whereas the severity of depression assessed by Hamilton's Scale was mild and similar in both group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[Clinical and differential diagnosis of multi-infarct dementia and Alzheimer's disease]. 152 70

Moderate drinking for the elderly of both genders is no more than one drink per day, where a drink is defined as 12 oz of beer, 5 oz of wine, or 1.5 oz of spirits. Age does not affect the rate of absorption or elimination of alcohol. Lean body mass decreases and adipose tissue increases with age, however, resulting in a corresponding decrease in the volume of total body water. With a smaller volume of distribution, an alcohol dose identical to that administered to a younger individual of the same size and gender will produce a higher blood alcohol concentration in the elderly. Low-dose alcohol stimulates appetite and promoters regular bowel function. In the well-nourished nonalcoholic elderly, the negative impact of alcohol consumption on nutrition is minimal. Alcohol consumption improves mood by increasing feelings of happiness and freedom from care while lessening inhibitions, stress, tension, and depression. Although in the laboratory low-dose alcohol improves certain types of cognitive function in young men, in other types of task performance, alcohol induces impairment, which worsens with age. The effects of alcohol on sleep are primarily detrimental, worsening both insomnia and breathing disturbances during sleep. Although the role of alcohol consumption in mortality from heart disease has not been investigated in the elderly, moderate drinking appears safe. Under some circumstances low-dose alcohol may produce analgesia whereas in others it may worsen pain. The elderly use a significant proportion of both prescription and over-the-counter medication, a large variety of which interact with alcohol. Alcoholic beverage consumption may exacerbate cognitive impairment and dementias of other etiology. Although some studies suggest that moderate use of alcohol by institutionalized senior citizens appears to produce benefits including improved socialization, separation of the effects of the social situation from those specifically attributable to alcohol remains to be accomplished. Older individuals who want to drink, have no medical contraindications, and take no drugs (prescription or over-the-counter) that interact with alcohol, may consider one drink a day to be a prudent level of alcohol consumption. Patients should be counseled to avoid alcohol consumption immediately prior to going to bed in order to avoid sleep disturbances. They also should be cautioned against potential drug-alcohol interactions and told to avoid alcohol ingestion prior to activities such as driving. The decision to recommend a particular level of alcohol consumption in any given patient must, however, be carefully tailored not only to that individual's specific medical needs but to his or her social and environmental circumstances as well.
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PMID:Alcohol and the elderly. 157 71

Many studies of age-related cognitive decline have failed to distinguish between usual and successful aging. Although some degree of cognitive impairment is associated with aging, when one looks at average performance, there is great variability among individuals, with many showing little or no deleterious effects of aging on intellectual abilities. Many of the risk factors for dementia and for conditions associated with cognitive impairments can be treated or controlled. Among the preventable causes of cognitive decline are the following: AIDS, Alcohol and drug abuse, Cerebrovascular disease, Exposure to organic solvents or lead, Head trauma, Overmedication, Syphilis. Other conditions that may cause cognitive decline can be controlled or treated: Atherosclerosis, Depression, Diabetes, Emphysema, High blood pressure, Obesity, Sleep disorders, Thyroid dysfunction. In addition, it may be possible to enhance the cognitive performance of even healthy elderly people through changes in diet and lifestyle. Recent data raise the possibility that improved prenatal and perinatal care and greater access to educational opportunities may result in a decreased incidence of dementia in future generations of older adults. Although they are rapidly becoming more numerous, the efficacy of cognitive training programs in preventing or slowing cognitive decline has not yet been demonstrated. Nevertheless, such programs may ameliorate cognitive impairment by reducing the psychiatric disabilities associated with anxiety and depression. The general principle underlying these strategies for limiting cognitive impairment with age is to maximize brain reserve and minimize brain damage.
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PMID:Preventing cognitive decline. 157 76

Using data from 441 newly admitted nursing home residents, we examined whether the diagnoses of mental illnesses, as well as other resident characteristics, were associated with use of physical restraints in both high restraint and low restraint use homes. Predictors of restraint use during both the first month and the first year of admission were inability to transfer and having a combination of severe ADL and cognitive impairment. Other predictors were wandering, inability to dress, symptoms of depression, and severity of cognitive impairment.
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PMID:Mental illness and the use of restraints in nursing homes. 157 7

We studied the effects of the localisation and size of ischemic brain infarcts and the influence of potential covariates (gender, age, time since infarction, physical handicap, cognitive impairment, aphasia, cortical atrophy and ventricular size) on 'post-stroke depression'. During an 18-months period all patients who underwent a CT-scan at the Central Institute of Mental Health and who had a single unilateral ischemic hemisphere infarct were initially included. Patients with severe aphasia or cognitive impairment who could not communicate well enough for the administration of depression rating scales were excluded. This led to a selection bias towards larger infarct sizes in the right hemisphere. In order to overcome this potentially critical selection artefact all patients with infarct sizes over 23 cm2 and/or with 'mini Mental State Scores' under 20 were excluded. The data from the remaining 30 patients (mean age 68 years; 15 male; 13 left hemisphere infarcts were used for the analysis. Their scores on the Hamilton depression rating scale, the Zung self rating depression scale and the von Zerssen clinical self-rating depression scale correlated significantly with one another (r greater than 0.73; p less than 0.001). Backward stepwise regression analysis carried out on the covariates mentioned above demonstrated a significant relationship only between cognitive impairment or cortical atrophy and a higher depression score.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[Depressive disorders after cerebral infarct. Relations to infarct site, brain atrophy and cognitive deficits]. 157 74

The clinical neuropsychologic profiles of patients with Parkinson's disease and patients with SDAT show both overlap and dissociation. Speech, language, and certain memory skills are examples of dissociable differences, especially in the early stages of the disease. Furthermore the presence of depression, evidence of cognitive slowing, and absence of aphasia in patients with Parkinson's disease suggest prominent subcortical involvement. It is probably premature to categorize all of the cognitive changes in patients with Parkinson's disease as subcortical, however. Some skills, such as visuospatial and executive functions, are impaired in both disorders, and although the etiologic bases for task failure may differ for each, this issue remains open-ended. Another problem is that often the evidence for or against the cortical/subcortical distinction is insufficient and in some cases based on a single measure thought to be representative of a given cognitive domain. Most importantly there are few comparative studies that provide unequivocal support for making a cortical/subcortical distinction. Failure to equate for level of cognitive impairment or functional disability between dementias and strict adherence to cross-sectional study designs further compromise efforts to characterize each syndrome precisely. Whitehouse suggested that a prospective study of several different dementias studied in parallel, examining a wide range of cognitive skills, is required before the cortical/subcortical classification scheme can be validated. A critical component is an autopsy program to confirm diagnoses and provide clinicopathologic correlation. It is possible that the diverse nature of the cognitive impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease is not a methodologic artifact but reflects multiple disease subtypes. Ross, Mahler, and Cummings proposed three dementia syndromes in patients with Parkinson's disease: one that is relatively mild and meets the criteria for subcortical dementia, a second that is more severe and shows a wider range of cognitive impairment but is still neuropathologically distinct from SDAT, and a third severe dementia with both subcortical and cortical involvement that may reflect basal ganglia and Alzheimer-type pathology.
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PMID:Cognitive impairments in Parkinson's disease. 158 85

Changes in brain structure have been demonstrated in elderly patients suffering affective disorder. Enlarged ventricles are associated with cognitive impairment and higher mortality. Depressed subjects also may show a greater degree of cortical atrophy and subcortical white matter, and basal ganglia lesions seem to be commoner than in age-matched controls. The abnormalities demonstrated are not as severe as those found in degenerative dementias such as Alzheimer's disease, and at present there is no evidence to suggest they are progressive. There is a convincing association with vascular disease, although further neuropathologic correlates are needed. Functional imaging methods are just beginning to be applied to elderly populations and, in affective disorder, findings are similar to those in younger patient groups. The results from different groups vary due to technologic differences and the clinical heterogeneity of the patients studied. Depression, however, may be accompanied by decreased and mania by increased cerebral blood flow or metabolism. Evidence also appears to be mounting of a state-dependent frontostriatal dysfunction in depression. Challenges for the future include replicating such results using larger diagnostically homogeneous patient groups and differentiating the findings from those in other disorders such as schizophrenia and basal ganglia disorders.
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PMID:Imaging and affective disorder in the elderly. 160 Apr 77

Improvement in the methodology of longitudinal investigations and increasing research interest in depressive disorders led to findings of clinical and heuristic importance. Outcomes, such as chronicity of depression, relapse, recurrence, and development of dementia, appear to be predicted by different clinical and laboratory findings. Chronicity of depression may be predicted by long duration of the current or previous episodes, coexisting medical illness, high severity of depression, nonmelancholic presentation, delusions, and perhaps cognitive impairment and neuroradiologic abnormalities. Predictors of relapse and recurrence of geriatric depression include multiple previous depressive episodes, high severity of illness, "double depression," presence of "exit" events, and intercurrent medical illnesses. Development of dementia may be predicted by a transient dementia syndrome during a depressive episode ("pseudodementia"), onset of the first depressive episode in the senium, and neuroradiologic abnormalities such as cortical atrophy and rapidly evolving ventricular enlargement. Long-term antidepressant treatment, if not controlled by a research protocol, usually is of low intensity and has a questionable effect on the outcome of depression over a long period of time. For this reason, naturalistic treatment studies are useful for identifying subgroups of depressives and time periods of high risk for specific adverse outcomes. This knowledge is particularly important in frail elderly populations who are vulnerable to side effects of antidepressant treatments. The next step is to conduct controlled-treatment studies and examine the capability of antidepressant treatments to prevent adverse outcomes in the high-risk populations identified through naturalistic treatment studies. Controlled-treatment studies can provide findings that clinicians can use to assess the risk-benefit ratio of continuation and maintenance treatments of geriatric depression. The heuristic importance of knowing the outcome of geriatric depression is that it permits identification of clinically and, to some extent, biologically-homogeneous groups. Given the absence of specific and sensitive laboratory tests, outcome is perhaps the "next best thing" to brain autopsy for subclassifying geriatric depression. Biologic measures of structural and functional abnormalities can then be used in homogeneous subgroups for the pursuit of pathophysiologic or etiologic studies.
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PMID:Outcomes of geriatric depression. 160 Apr 86


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