medRxiv · May 5, 2022
Major Depressive Disorder as a risk factor of neuropsychiatric symptoms in normal and pathological aging, and associations with cognitive performances
By Ronat LA, Group N, Hanganu A
Abstract Objectives The diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is based on the DSM-V criteria and is established by a clinician. It allows quantifying depression based on clinical criteria. As such, MDD differs from other types of depressions quantified based on subjective scales. Here, we evaluated the MDD risk factor on other neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) as well as MDD association with cognitive performance in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Healthy Controls (CH). Participants Data of 208 patients with AD, 291 patients with MCI and 647 HC was extracted from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center database. Each included participant was assessed by a physician for the MDD criteria, underwent an evaluation of NPS using the NeuroPsychiatric Inventory, and a comprehensive cognitive assessment. Participants were classified in those with- and without MDD. We performed logistic regression and a MANCOVA models respectively with NPS and cognitive performance as variables of interest and MDD as fixed factors within each group. The MANCOVA was controlled for the effects of age, sex, and education. Results MDD increased the risk for psychotic, affective and behavioral NPS in MCI, and affective/behavioral NPS in CH and AD. Also, MCI with MDD had lower performance on selective attention and mental flexibility. Conclusions MDD seems to increase the probability for a higher prevalence of NPS in all groups (CN, MCI and AD). This might suggest that early treatment of MDD could impact future neuropsychiatric symptomatology and cognitive performance.