Chronic depressive symptoms linked with ongoing atrophy of frontal regions may be a risk factor for conversion to dementia in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), according to a multicenter study involving 94 elderly individuals.

Participants came from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative repository, and included those with (n=32) and without (n=62) chronic depressive symptoms. Labs were performed every 6 months during the first 2 years and yearly thereafter, looking at cortical atrophy rates.

Among the results:

• Chronic depressive symptoms in a single domain amnestic MCI sample were linked with faster cortical atrophy in the frontal lobe and anterior cingulate.

• They were not associated with atrophy rates in temporomedial or other Alzheimer-affected regions.

• About 4 in 10 developed Alzheimer disease.

• Those with chronic depressive symptoms had 60% shorter conversion time to Alzheimer disease than those without such symptoms.

Citation: Sacuiu S, Insel P, Mueller S, et al. Chronic depressive symptomatology in mild cognitive impairment is associated with frontal atrophy rate which hastens conversion to Alzheimer dementia. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2016;24(2):126-135. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2015.03.006.