WASHINGTON, D.C.: A gradual increase in depressive symptoms, as opposed to more stable symptoms, is linked to an increased risk of developing dementia, new research shows.
A longitudinal study conducted by investigators at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, showed that dementia risk differed with different courses of depression, such that individuals with depressive symptoms that increased over time were more likely to develop dementia. This finding, the investigators note, suggests that depression may be a prodrome of dementia.