Abstract
Introduction: The 21-point Brain Care Score (BCS), developed via a modified Delphi process with practitioners and patients, is a novel instrument designed to motivate behavioral and lifestyle changes, ultimately aiming to decrease incidence of dementia and stroke (Fig 1). Whether or not BCS components are associated with longitudinal changes in mood disorders is not clear. For this study, we tested the hypothesis that the BCS also significantly correlates to late-life depression incidence in the UK Biobank (UKB). Design / Methods: The BCS was derived from UKB participants (using both the hospital and general practitioners cohort) aged 40-69 years, at baseline (2006-2010). After excluding patients with prevalent psychiatric disorders, we performed multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression models between the BCS and risk of incident late-life depression, adjusting for sex and stratified by age groups (<50, 50-59, >59 years). Results: The total BCS (median: 12; IQR:11-14) was derived for 416,370/502,408 (83%) UKB participants with complete data (mean age: 57; females: 54%). After exclusion of 50,395 participants who had mood or psychiatric disorders other than depression, a total of 365,975 participants were included in our analysis. In total, 6,628 incident cases of late-life depression were documented during the median follow-up period of 13 years. Each five-point increase in BCS was associated with a 59% (HR: 0.41, 95% CI: -0.03-0.85) decreased incidence of late-life depression among UKB participants aged <50, 35% (HR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.57-0.74) among those aged 50-59; and 28% (HR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.65-0.79) lower risk among those aged >59). Conclusions: In addition to its associations with dementia and stroke incidence, the BCS strongly correlates with late-life depression incidence in the UK Biobank. Additional research is needed to understand the association between BCS elements and late life depression in additional, diverse cohorts.
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