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Depressive symptoms may present before Alzheimer's disease diagnosis

Patients may display symptoms of depression before the onset of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms, according to data published in Neurology.

“While earlier studies have shown that an estimated 90 percent of people with Alzheimer’s experience behavioral or psychological symptoms such as depression, anxiety and agitation, this study suggests that these changes begin before people even have diagnosable dementia,” researcher Catherine M. Roe, PhD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., said in a press release.

Catherine M. Roe

Roe and colleagues examined 2,416 adults aged 50 years and older from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set, and followed them for 7 years.

Of those, almost all (n=1,184; 97.2%) of the 1,218 patients who developed incident cognitive impairment exhibited a rating that indicated very mild dementia, researchers wrote.

Additional data indicated that both patients who did or did not develop dementia showed signs of irritability, depression and nighttime behavioral changes, anxiety, appetite changes, agitation, apathy, elation, motor disturbances, hallucinations, delusions and disinhibition.

These symptoms occurred sooner among patients who developed dementia at follow-up, according to data.

“We still don’t know whether depression is a response to the psychological process of Alzheimer’s disease or a result of the same underlying changes in the brain,” Roe said. “More research is needed to identify the relationship between these two conditions.”

Disclosure: See the study for a full list of relevant financial disclosures.