Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Vol 50, Issue 1 P25-P32, Copyright © 1995 by The Gerontological Society of America
The relationship between depression and cognition in older adults: a cross-validation study
PA Lichtenberg, T Ross, SR Millis and CA Manning
School of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit.
The relationship between depression and cognition in older adults has
become a topic of extensive research and clinical interest. Results of
previous research are limited, however, by sampling and methodological
problems. Small sample sizes and the treatment of depression as a
dichotomous variable may be major factors that limit data interpretation in
previous studies. The present sample of 220 geriatric medical patients was
split into a validation and a cross-validation sample specifically to test
the hypothesis that depression is an independent predictor of cognition.
Multiple regression analyses, controlling for the direct effects of
demographic factors, found that Geriatric Depression Scale scores accounted
for approximately 8% of unique variance for both measures of cognition.
Demographic factors, particularly age and race, were also significant
predictors of cognitive test scores. These data were interpreted as
providing support for the hypothesis that level of depression predicts
level of cognitive functioning.
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