Abstract
BackgroundIt is often difficult to differentiate between the depressive states seen in late-life depression and late-onset Alzheimer’ disease (AD) in the clinical setting.MethodsThirty-four outpatients were recruited, all fulfilling the criteria of aged 65 years or above, scores of 14 or more on the Hamilton depression rating scale (HAM-D), and 26 or less on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). At the initial visit, they were administered the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (COGNISTAT). At 1 month, a diagnosis of either senile depression (n = 24) or Alzheimer’ disease (n = 10) was made.ResultsThe COGNISTAT revealed that the late-life depression group showed significantly higher scores in orientation and comprehension subtests compared with the AD group. At the study endpoint (6 months after treatment), MMSE detected significant improvements in the late-life depression group (n = 15), but no changes in the late-onset AD group (n = 7). Scores for memory, similarities, and judgment on the second COGNISTAT were significantly improved in the depressed group, whereas calculation scores deteriorated significantly in the AD group.ConclusionThe COGNISTAT could prove useful in differentiating late-life depression from late-onset AD, despite similar scores on MMSE.
Highlights
It is often difficult to differentiate between the depressive states seen in late-life depression and lateonset Alzheimer’ disease (AD) in the clinical setting
We investigated the utility of COGNISTAT for discriminating between late-life depression and late-onset AD using patients with similar scores on Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)
The patients with late-life depression and late-onset AD did not differ in age, sex, or MMSE scores
Summary
It is often difficult to differentiate between the depressive states seen in late-life depression and lateonset Alzheimer’ disease (AD) in the clinical setting. It is important to make a clinical distinction between late-life depression and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in geriatric patients, because both diseases exhibit dementia or cognitive dysfunction completed suicides show close association with major depressive illness, especially in the elderly [1]. Previous reviews have documented the typical clinical and cognitive presentation of late-life depression and AD [2, 3]. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is a frequently used and convenient assessment tool for global cognitive function [4]. The Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination, COGNISTAT, is a short cognitive test for evaluating cognitive impairment in AD. Patients with AD showed significantly lower scores on many subtests of the COGNISTAT compared with healthy, elderly individuals [6, Tsuruoka et al Ann Gen Psychiatry (2016) 15:3
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