Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011570 (depression)
 172,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This study aimed to assess the relationships between the scores of subjective assessment (metamemory) and those of performance testing for memory, on the one hand, and the level of depression, on the other. A hundred and eighty elderly subjects (102 women and 78 men; mean age 65.7 years) were selected for the study. They showed neither intellectual impairment (as assessed through Mini Mental State test: MMS) nor neuropsychiatric symptoms. Each subject was administered the Randt Memory Test (RMT) for performance testing, the Sehulster Memory Scale (SMS) for the subjective assessment, and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). A MULTCOVA analysis showed that both age and the depression level are negatively correlated with both the measures (Acquisition-Recall: AR; Delayed Memory: DM) of the RMT. The scores of the second (memory complaints) of the three sets of SMS were positively correlated with those of AR and DM indices. A Multivariate Regression Analysis showed that in males age and the depression level were significant regressors for both AR and MD scores while in females only the depression level was a significant regressor for AR and only age was a significant regressor for DM. Our results suggest that a) the relationships between the depression level and memory functioning are close, although not fully homogeneous in men and women; and b) that the scores in some areas of metamemory parallel, independently of the level of depression, the performance outcomes of memory functioning.
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PMID:Self-rating and objective memory testing of normal and depressed elderly. 209 54

Sixty senile subjects (60-80 years old) with dysthymic disturbances as defined by DSM III (Cat. 390.40) were randomized into two homogeneous groups, one of which was given acetyl-L-carnitine (3 g/day per os) while the other received a placebo. After a washout phase of one week, each patient was evaluated by scoring on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the Beck Depression Inventory, as well as the Sandoz Clinical Assessment-Geriatric. These tests were administered at the beginning of the trial, prior to drug administration, and repeated during the treatment phase after 30 and 60 days. The results showed that treatment with acetyl-L-carnitine induced a significant reduction, as compared to the placebo (p less than 0.002), in the severity of depressive symptoms and also a significant improvement (p less than 0.0027) in the items measuring the quality of life.
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PMID:Effect of acetyl-L-carnitine on geriatric patients suffering from dysthymic disorders. 209 60

Gait and balance disturbances are recognized risk factors for falls among elderly persons. The prevention of falls and their adverse complications is one of the challenges in geriatric care, requiring the early detection of risk factors. Heretofore, gait assessment procedures have required considerable investment in equipment for sophisticated biomechanical testing. This has limited the use of gait-testing procedures to the laboratory or clinic. We describe a simple and effective method for at-home or community gait testing, ELGAM (extra-laboratory gait assessment method). ELGAM was field-tested as part of a study of 36 community-dwelling elderly in Beer Sheba, Israel. The ELGAM parameters studied included step length, walking speed, initial starting style of walking, ability to turn head while walking, and static balance. Slow walking speed (less than 0.5 m/s), small steps, difficulty in turning the head, and impaired balance were significantly associated (chi-square analyses, p less than 0.01) with unstable gait. The parameters were also positively associated one with another, except for head turning. The ELGAM parameters were significantly related to self-assessed fall frequency, and reported 'near falls' among women only. In addition, among women only, slow walking speed was associated with depressive symptoms as detected by a validated screening test, the Short Geriatric Depression Scale, and with poor subjective health rating. Among 58% of this independently living elderly sample, ELGAM detected one or more risk factors. ELGAM is a 'low-tech', functionally based, effective method for direct recording of gait parameters that is applicable for community studies of the early detection of risk factors for falls and mobility problems.
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PMID:ELGAM--extra-laboratory gait assessment method: identification of risk factors for falls among the elderly at home. 210 68

This ex-post facto study examined the burden experience of people caring for a stroke survivor. It was hypothesized there would be less caregiver burden in those caregivers who participated in a stroke club (experimental) than those who did not (control). The CADET was used to evaluate functional status of the stroke survivor. The Physical Caregiving Responsibility Inventory measured the degree of difficulty performing caregiving experiences, and the Geriatric Depression Scale determined caregiver depression. Advanced educational status, high income and moderate physical disabilities are related to reduced feelings of burden in the thirty-eight caregiver-survivor dyads studied.
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PMID:Group process effect on caregiver burden. 214 89

A double-blind, randomized 4-week mianserin vs maprotiline trial was conducted in 48 depressed geriatric medical inpatients. The drug dosages were up to 90 mg of mianserin and up to 150 mg of maprotiline per day. Efficacy was measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale, the Hopkins Symptom Check List depression subscale and the Clinical Global Impression Scale. The overall dropout figure was 27% of the sample. Side effects were relatively similar in the two treatment groups and suggested a safety profile somewhat better than that of the first-generation antidepressants. Mianserin showed some advantages in efficacy over maprotiline, particularly by the 4th week of the trial, but the overall figures of treatment responders were rather small (Geriatric Depression Scale: mianserin 48%, maprotiline 30%). Clinical trials vs placebo are needed to clarify the role of antidepressant pharmacotherapy in depressed geriatric medical inpatients.
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PMID:A double-blind comparison of mianserin and maprotiline in depressed medically ill elderly people. 218 79

Twenty-eight patients aged between 70 and 80 years affected by depressive disturbance as defined by DSM III R (cat. 300.40) were subdivided at random into two homogeneous groups of 14 each. One group was treated with 500 mg three times a day of L-acetylcarnitine (LAC) in tablet form, while the other received placebo. Each patient was evaluated by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Sandoz Clinical Assessment--Geriatric, and by clinical global impression. This investigation establishes that LAC is effective in counteracting symptoms of depression in the elderly. Relief of depressive symptomatology is expressed by decreased scores in the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and Beck Depression Inventory and by beneficial effects with regard to behavioural aspects.
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PMID:Evaluation of the effects of L-acetylcarnitine on senile patients suffering from depression. 220 55

Efficacy being constant, antidepressant choice is dictated by side effect profile, patient acceptance, and safety. Trazodone has been shown to be safe in overdose, and the side effect profile is mild, with sedation the most common side effect. Sleep electroencephalogram and clinical studies have shown trazodone effective in improving sleep in normal subjects, insomniac patients, and patients with major depression. Tolerance and rapid eye movement rebound on discontinuation do not occur. The 3- to 9-hour half-life of trazodone and its pharmacokinetics favors a dose weighted at bedtime. Studies comparing multiple daytime dosing to single dosing at bedtime have shown equal efficacy in relieving depression. At treatment onset, a single nighttime dose is more productive of sleep with less daytime drowsiness. These differences between single nighttime dosing and multiple daily dosing disappear with continued administration. Geriatric patients respond similarly. Trazodone is best dosed at 150 mg given predominantly (but not necessarily all) at bedtime and increased as needed to 200 to 300 mg for full antidepressant efficacy.
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PMID:Trazodone dosing regimen: experience with single daily administration. 221 61

This study compares the performance of Parkinson's disease patients with age-matched controls on semantic and letter-initial verbal fluency tests. An analysis of variance revealed that Parkinsonian patients showed impaired word production. However when the covariates of age, present verbal ability (Mill Hill Synonyms) and severity of depression (Geriatric Depression Screening Scale) were included in an analysis of covariance, the significant effect of Parkinson's disease on verbal fluency disappeared. Instead, age and present verbal ability were revealed to be the significant sources of between subject variation in total verbal fluency performance; results indicated that increased age and lower present verbal ability resulted in poorer performance on the verbal fluency tests. Depression score was not a significant source of between subject variation. The results are discussed in relation to those recently reported by Gurd and Ward (1989).
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PMID:Verbal fluency in Parkinson's disease. 221 85

Five predicted relationships between age and intellectual level and 16 Rorschach variables were examined through a cross-sectional analysis of 47 healthy, community-dwelling elderly men and women. Subjects were compared by age and intellectual level using gender, level of medication, and scores on the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the Geriatric Social Readjustment Questionnaire (GSRQ) as covariates. Screening tests for psychiatric and physical illness, recent life events, and hearing and vision loss were administered. In contrast to prior research suggesting changes in Rorschach scores with differences in age and intellectual level, only one significant difference was found for these variables. The data suggest that age and intellectual level may contribute less to Rorschach responses than was previously thought.
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PMID:Rorschach responses in healthy, community dwelling older adults. 223 Dec 52

1. In a multicenter, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical study in 178 elderly patients with cognitive decline, nimodipine, a calcium antagonist was found to be a therapeutically effective agent in the treatment of old age dementias. 2. Treatment with 90 mg of nimodipine administered orally in divided doses for 12 weeks was significantly superior to an inactive placebo on all outcome measures including the Wechsler Memory Scale, the Mini Mental State Examination, the Global Deterioration Scale, the Sandoz Clinical Assessment Geriatric Scale, the Plutchik Geriatric Rating Scale, the Severity of Illness and Global Improvement Scales of Clinical Global Impression, and the Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression. 3. Adverse effects with nimodipine were few and mild. The drug was equally well tolerated and equally effective in the two major dementias of old age, i.e., primary degenerative and multi-infarct. The number of abnormal laboratory test readings remained essentially unchanged from pre-treatment to post-treatment.
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PMID:Nimodipine in the treatment of old age dementias. 223 81


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