Title : Association between depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment severity in a real-world memory clinic cohort
Abstract:
Aims:
Depressive symptoms are frequent neuropsychiatric manifestations in older adults with cognitive impairment and dementia. This study aimed to examine the association between depressive symptom severity and dementia severity in a real-world memory clinic cohort. We also evaluated the relationship betweendepressive symptoms and global cognitive function assessed by CASI.
Methods:
This retrospective cross-sectional study included 186 patients who underwent cognitive assessment at a Neurology clinic. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Cognitive function was evaluated using the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI), and dementia severity was assessed using the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale.The associations between GDS scores, cognitive measures, and dementia severity were examined using Spearman correlation analyses. Differences in depressive symptoms across CDR stages were further evaluated using appropriate statistical comparisons.
Results:
Among the 186 participants included in the analysis, the mean age was 78.7 ± 8.2 years, and the mean CASI score was 60.3 ± 23.2. The mean GDS score was 3.5 ±4.3. Spearman correlation analysis demonstrated that higher depressive symptom severity was significantly associated with poorer global cognitive performancemeasured by CASI (ρ = −0.175, p = 0.017). In addition, higher GDS scores were significantly correlated with greater dementia severity assessed by CDR (ρ = 0.206, p= 0.005). When depressive symptoms were compared across CDR stages, GDS scores increased progressively with dementia severity (CDR 0.5: 2.59 ± 3.31; CDR 1: 3.83 ± 4.58; CDR 2: 5.78 ± 5.48; CDR 3: 6.50 ± 7.78). Overall group differences were statistically significant (Kruskal-Wallis test, p = 0.044).
Conclusion:
Depressive symptoms were associated with poorer cognitive function and greater dementia severity. Routine assessment of depression may improve the comprehensive evaluation of patients with cognitive impairment.
