Dementia and depression are frequently comorbid among older adult patients. Depression is related to cognitive decrement and can even represent the first signs of a neurodegenerative process. It can be difficult to distinguish depressed patients exhibiting the first signs of dementia from those whose cognition will improve with treatment. In this article, studies from the neuropsychological literature are reviewed that aid in accurate diagnosis and prognosis. Furthermore, the relationship between depression and dementia is explored by examining potential neurobiological mechanisms that may potentiate both syndromes in the context of the ongoing debate on depression as a prodrome and/or a risk factor for dementia. This article is concluded with suggestions for clinicians when deciding who to refer for neuropsychological assessment and with ideas for further research that might promote a better understanding of the complex association between depression and dementia during old age.

Background One of the principal theories regarding the biological basis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) implicates a dysregulation of emotion processing circuitry. Gender differences in how emotions are processed and relative experience with emotion processing might help to explain some of the disparities in the prevalence of MDD between women and men. The current study sought to explore how gender and depression status relate to emotion processing. Methods This study employed a 2 (MDD status) × 2 (gender) factorial design to explore differences in classifications of posed facial emotional expressions (N = 151). Results For errors, there was an interaction between gender and depression status. Women with MDD made more errors than did non-depressed women and men with MDD, particularly for fearful and sad stimuli (ps < .02), which they were likely to misinterpret as angry (ps < .04). There was also an interaction of diagnosis and gender for response cost for negative stimuli, with significantly greater interference from negative faces present in women with MDD compared with non-depressed women (p = .01). Men with MDD, conversely, performed similarly to control men (p = .61). Conclusions These results provide novel and intriguing evidence that depression in younger adults (< 35 years) differentially disrupts emotion processing in women as compared to men. This interaction could be driven by neurobiological and social learning mechanisms, or interactions between them, and may underlie differences in the prevalence of depression in women and men.