In this issue of the Journal, Ramit Ravona-Springer et al. use a longitudinal design to study the relationship
between depressive symptoms and cognitive changes over time among older adults with
diabetes.
1
Increasing depressive symptoms were associated with decline in cognitive scores.
The study calls attention to how depression interacts with medical conditions like
diabetes to affect brain health, and highlights the need for more emphasis on prevention
of depression. Ample clinical and epidemiologic evidence has demonstrated that the
risk for depression is higher with increasing levels of medical comorbidity, that
depression is associated with the onset of medical illness and vice versa, and that
medical illness accompanied by depression is associated with more functional impairment
and mortality than when depression is not present.
2
Widespread implementation of effective depression prevention would dramatically improve
the public's health—by reducing complications and improving quality of life and survival
among persons with chronic medical conditions. Evidence-based, cost-effective strategies
can prevent clinical depression,
3
,4
but remain largely unused because no commonly used strategy identifies who is most
at risk, implements scalable prevention, and addresses policy incentives.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
- Increase in number of depression symptoms over time is related to worse cognitive outcomes in older adults with type 2 diabetes.Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2021; 29: 1-11
- Depression and medical illness in late life: race, resources, and stress.in: Lavretsky H Sajatovic M Reynolds CF Late-life Mood Disorders. Oxford University Press, London2013: 270-294
- Preventing depression in high-risk groups.Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2010; 23: 8-11
- The economic case for the prevention of mental illness.Annu Rev Public Health. 2019; 40: 373-389
- Rethinking Diabetes: Entanglements With Trauma, Poverty, and HIV.Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY2019
- Effect of depression and diabetes mellitus on the risk for dementia: a national population-based cohort study.JAMA Psychiatry. 2015; 72: 612-619
- Prevalence of screening for food insecurity, housing instability, utility needs, transportation needs, and interpersonal violence by US physician practices and hospitals.JAMA Netw Open. 2019; 2e1911514
- An innovative model of depression care delivery: peer mentors in collaboration with a mental health professional to relieve depression in older adults.Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2016; 24: 407-416
- Meta-analysis of the effects of peer-administered psychosocial interventions on symptoms of depression.Am J Community Psychol. 2015; 55: 455-471
- The policy ecology of behavioral health homes: case study of Maryland's Medicaid health home program.Adm Policy Ment Health. 2020; 47: 60-72
Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 28, 2020
Accepted:
October 26,
2020
Received:
October 26,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
