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Some adults have have symptoms of depression which are associated with brain changes that accelerate the mind’s aging process. The new University of Miami study is one of many to document a link between depression and dementia, but cause-and-effect relationship difficult to discern because the two share many common symptoms.
Harmful amyloid beta proteins build up in the brains of people developing Alzheimer’s disease, impairing the ability of neurons to connect. According to a study from Brigham Young University, depression impairs the ability of people to distinguish between similar events, making each more difficult to recall.
Depression can occur for most people much earlier in life and its symptoms treatable with medication or talk therapy. Catching and treating depression early could mean putting an end to the mood disorder’s deleterious effects on the brain.
Undiagnosed depression is associated with memory problems even before Alzheimer’s sets in. The researchers from the University of Miami quizzed adults an average age of 71 about their depression symptoms and their recall. They discovered that most of the adults in the group that were more depressed also had poorer episodic memory.
Episodic memories include simple recent information -like what you eat in the morning- as well as the memories that make us, like what we experience daily. In addition to assessing their depression symptoms and memory performances, the researchers also looked at scans of the participants brains.
The brains of those with depression were markedly different than those without such symptoms. People who reported more feelings of depression had smaller brain volumes and were at a 55 percent greater risk of developing vascular lesions, or abnormal blood vessel formations in or on the brain.
If these blood vessels burst or become blocked, a stroke ensues. Some previous studies have also suggested that brain lesions may cause Alzheimer’s. Small vascular lesions in the brain are markers of small vessel disease, a condition in which the walls in the small blood vessels are damaged, the research shows that depression and brain aging may occur simultaneously, and greater symptoms of depression may affect brain health through small vessel disease.
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