Centre for Policy on Ageing



Assessment of depression in patients with dementia
Author(s)	Ira R Katz, Patricia Parmelee
Journal title	Journal of Mental Health and Aging, vol 2, no 3, Winter 1996
Pages	pp 235-252
Keywords	Depression ; Evaluation ; Dementia.
Annotation	Depressive disorders are common comorbidities, components, or complications of dementia. Recent research has shown that both the diagnosis of major depression and ratings of typical depressive symptoms can be conducted reliably, even in patients with dementia. For those with mild to moderate cognitive impairment, self-ratings of depression with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) appear to remain valid. Among interviewer-administered instruments, the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the Cornell Scale are the best established. Potential difficulties with assessment include problems with ascertainment (with families generally reporting greater depression than clinicians), and the ambiguity of symptoms. Although diagnostic methods and rating scales developed with cognitively intact patients remain useful, there is need for further research to characterise the pathology of mood and affect that occurs in patients with dementia. Approaches that show promise include multiple repeated self-reports of affect and direct observations of behaviour. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-981020244 A
Classmark	ENR: 4C: EA
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.