Depressive symptoms predict slow cognitive decline in mild dementia.

Depression may be a prognostic marker of subsequent cognitive decline in patients with dementia. Earlier investigations did not find support for this hypothesis, but these considered mainly syndromal depression. In this prospective study, 32 subjects with mild dementia were followed up for 12 months. The effects of GMS-AGECAT syndromal depression, subsyndromal depression and dimensions of depressive symptoms were studied. Higher levels of mood symptoms but not (sub)syndromal depression predicted slower cognitive decline during follow-up. It is hypothesized that the report of depressive symptoms by subjects with mild dementia reflects relative intactness of cognitive functions, not accounted for by cognitive screening instruments