The exact correlation between depression and Alzheimer’s disease has baffled the medical community for a long time. Whether Alzheimer’s disease is triggered by depression or whether depression is a symptom of Alzheimer’s was not clear. Two recent studies seemed to have solved the puzzle to some extent.

The first study was carried out by the researchers from Erasmus Medical Center, Netherlands. The study published in the journal Neurology assessed 503 individuals between 60 and 90 years without any symptom of dementia in the beginning of the study. 134 participants had a history of depression. After a six-year follow-up 33 people developed dementia. The study showed that people who had suffered from depression before 60 had four times more the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than a person without a history of depression. In case of a person developing depression after 60, chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease increased by 2.5 times compared to a depression-free individual. The MIT scan of the hippocampus and the amygdala regions of the brain showed no change in size with the onset of depression or Alzheimer’s disease refuting the common belief that Alzheimer’s disease is linked to brain shrinkage.

In another study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers of the Rush University Medical Center, Chicago found no evidence that depressive symptoms increased with advancement in Alzheimer’s disease. This rules-out the possibility of depression being a symptom of Alzheimer’s disease.

These studies lead to the conclusion that while depression is not the obvious outcome of Alzheimer’s disease but depression at any age might lead to Alzheimer’s disease with advancement in age. Depression being a risk factor of Alzheimer’s disease, this condition of mind should not be ignored and must be treated as early as possible.

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Source: Web MD