Abstract

IZQUIERDO MUNUERA, Eulàlia et al. Depression and risk of dementia. Rev. Asoc. Esp. Neuropsiq. [online]. 2003, n.87, pp.31-52. ISSN 2340-2733.

For a few decades an increasing controversy exists with respect to whether melancholic depression in geriatric ages should constitute a different nosologic entity from the rest of depressions. Several studies have discovered different biological, psychological and social factors between them, which could justify this distinction. Moreover, we can find many recent studies that support the hypothesis that geriatric depression could be a risk factor for the development of a future dementia. Although a diversity of possible affective disorders diagnoses and the heterogenety of its clinical presentation, in this paper a few of the last investigations about the role of the involutive depression in the development of a future dementia are reviewed. The role of other factors within this association are reviewed too. Finaly, the most defended aetiologyc hypothesis for this association will be shown.

Keywords : Geriatric depression; Late-onset depression; Dementia; Risk.

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