A variable pattern of depressive symptom severity is linked to subsequent decline in verbal memory, a recent study found, while a persistent pattern is linked to decline in executive function-attention. These findings could signal differences in underlying neuropathologic processes among persons with differing depression patterns and late-life cognitive decline. Depressive symptoms were measured at up to 3 time points among 11,675 Nurses' Health Study participants prior to cognitive testing. Researchers found:

• Participants with persistent depressive symptoms had worse executive function-attention decline compared with non-depressed participants; this difference was comparable with 8 years of aging.
• However, being in the persistent vs non-depressed group was not significantly related to verbal or global score decline.
• By contrast, compared with the non-depressed group, those with variable depressive symptoms had worse verbal memory decline; this group showed no differences for global or executive function-attention decline.