Relationship of Depression With Executive Functions and Visuospatial Memory in Elderly

Abstract

Cognitive deficits are a potential part of the clinical picture of depression, especially when it comes to late-life depression. The present study was carried out to establish whether distinctive cognitive deficiencies can be linked with depression in the late-life period, especially in executive functioning, working memory, and visuospatial memory. Our sample consisted of 71 seniors in the age range between 69 and 85 years. A battery of neurocognitive tests was used, including tests of executive functioning (Trail Making Test [TMT], part B, Stroop color word test, semantic word fluency test, and partially Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test [ROCF]), tests of attention and working memory (TMT, part A and digit span), and test of visuospatil ability and memory (ROCF). Results demonstrated that depression scores were significantly negatively correlated with scores on Verbal Fluency test, Stroop test, and ROCF immediate copy and recall. Depression was also linked to slower functioning on Trail Making A and Trail Making B subtest. In general, higher depression scores were correlated with lower performance on neuropsychological tests. However, digit span showed no significant correlation with depression. In addition, results of regression analyses revealed that the strongest predictors of depression were performance on the Rey-Osterrieth test-immediate recall and Stroop test. Thus, we could ascertain that difficulties in executive functioning and visuospatial memory are the best predictors of depression in elderly.

Depression, social support, executive functioning, functionality, and quality of life in institutionalized elderly people

“…Taken together these results indicate that within participants with high perception of SS, the depressed ones show lower cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control. This finding converges with previous studies reporting these difficulties (Klojčnik et al, 2017) however the fact that it fits in participants with a high SS is surprising and diverges from literature. Given that our sample is composed by institutionalized subjects, we can hypothesize that their high perception of SS received may be related to the satisfaction of ADL, leading to a false perception of independence on ADL; i.e.…”

Abnormal Voxel-Wise Degree Centrality in Patients With Late-Life Depression: A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

“…The parahippocampal gyrus is a limbic structure mainly associated with visuospatial processing and episodic memory (49). Previous studies have revealed that LLD is associated with impaired visuospatial memory and episodic memory (50,51). The white matter integrity of parahippocampal gyrus was found disrupted in the LLD patients (52).…”

Fluid Intelligence Predicts Change in Depressive Symptoms in Later Life: The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

“…Results from two recent studies support this hypothesis. In a sample of 71 seniors (ages 69–85 years), Klojcˇnik et al (2017) observed that depression was more strongly associated with decrements in visuospatial reasoning than with decrements in recall memory, verbal fluency, attention, and processing speed. In a longitudinal study of 6,203 middle-age and older adults, Aichele, Rabbitt, and Ghisletta (2017) found that fluid-intelligence decrements better predicted elevated depressive symptoms than did decrements in memory, processing speed, or verbal ability.…”

“…More generally, depression risk has most frequently been examined in relation to cognitive decrements indicative of Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia (e.g., memory deficits, slowed information processing). However, decrements in abstract reasoning (i.e., fluid intelligence), which are closely related to functional impairment and poor treatment compliance, may better characterize elevated depression risk in nonclinical populations of older adults (Klojcˇnik, Kavcic, & Vukman, 2017). Results from two recent studies support this hypothesis.…”