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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Is apathy in late-life depressive illness related to age-at-onset, cognitive function or vascular risk? | | Author(s) | Indrag K Lampe, Thea J Heeren |
| Journal title | International Psychogeriatrics, vol 16, no 4, December 2004 |
| Pages | pp 481-486 |
| Source | http://journals.cambridge.org |
| Keywords | Apathy ; Depression ; Evaluation ; Cognitive impairment ; Memory disorders ; Vascular diseases ; Correlation ; Netherlands. |
| Annotation | Apathy has been shown to be an important feature of degenerative, vascular or traumatic brain disorder. Its presence is associated with high depression scores, higher age, lower performance on frontal tasks, and more severe deep white matter hyperintensities. In late-life depression, lack of interest or motivation are often more prominent than depressed mood, especially in the late-onset type. It was hypothesised that n a heterogeneous sample of older depressed patients, apathy is associated with late-onset type of depression, cognitive dysfunction or vascular risk factors. The Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES) was administered to 29 Dutch inpatients aged 60+ with a DSM-IV major depression or dysthymic disorder. The severity of the depression was measured with the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and cognitive function with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The presence of vascular risk factors was traced in patients' medical records. Apathy was found in 96% of the patients. The AES score was correlated with the negative symptom score, but not with total MADRS or MMSE score. No difference in AES score between the 16 early-onset depressed and the 13 late-onset depressed patients was found, or between patients with or without vascular risk. Apathy is a main feature of moderate to severe medical illness in older patients, and is related to the negative symptoms of the disorder. Further studies should include less severely depressed patients and investigate the relation between depression severity and apathy. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-050216208 A |
| Classmark | EPA: ENR: 4C: E4: EH: CQP: 49: 76H |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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