This Mental Health Issue Could Double Dementia Risk

A new study published in JAMA Neurology found that over a 41-year period, the risk of dementia more than doubled for both men and women with diagnosed depression and was higher for men than for women. The study was included more than 1.4 million adult Danish citizens, who were followed from 1977 to 2018.

According to mindbodygreen, researchers speculate that one of the reasons men were at increased risk for dementia could be that they are less likely to seek health care than women. The association between dementia and depression persisted even in people who were diagnosed with the mental health disorder in early and middle life, further suggesting that depression increases the risk of developing dementia.

The study used data from a nationwide Danish population-based cohort that included 246,499 people diagnosed with depression and 1,190,302 without depression. One of the limitations of the study was that it only included Danish participants and did not account for geographical and cultural variations.

Researchers did adjust for factors like education, income, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, substance use disorder, and bipolar disorder, says CNN. Lead study author Dr. Holly Elser, an epidemiologist and resident physician on neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, said that depression in late adulthood is often thought to be an early symptom of dementia, and that many previous studies have linked the two. But the latest research shows a correlation between dementia and depression diagnosis in early and mid-life, as well.

“Our results therefore provide strong evidence that depression is not only an early symptom of dementia, but also that depression increases dementia risk,” Elser said. She said that while the study did not illuminate the mechanism by which depression increases dementia risk, “there may be shared common risk factors for depression and dementia that occur earlier in the lifecourse,” such as alteration in neurotransmitters or change in health behaviors that in turn increase dementia risk.

“There is a clear need for future research that examines potential mechanisms that relate depression earlier in life to subsequent onset of dementia,” she said. Experts say that further research may also determine why men are more at risk than women.

Elser also pointed out that treatment for depression did not impact the results. The latest study looked at treatment with anti-depressant medication within six months of diagnosis and did not see a difference in the risk between the treated and untreated groups, she said.

However, other observational studies showed that older adults who took part in therapy that reduced their symptoms of depression or anxiety had a reduced risk of dementia, according to CNN. Regardless of the benefit of treatment, however, experts say that taking care of your mental and emotional health should always be a priority.

“Because depression is extremely prevalent and is associated with significant individual and societal costs, effective treatment of depressive symptoms should be a priority regardless of whether they confer risk for dementia later in life,” Elser said.