The Impact of Amyloid Burden and APOE on Rates of Cognitive Impairment in Late Life Depression

Abstract

Background: Cognitive impairment (CI) is a key feature of late life depression (LLD), but the contribution of underlying neurodegenerative pathology remains unclear.

Objective: To evaluate cognitive dysfunction in LLD relative to a sample of nondepressed (ND) older adults with matched levels of memory impairment and amyloid-β (Aβ) burden.

Methods: Participants included 120 LLD and 240 ND older adults matched on age, education, sex, Mini-Mental State Exam, mild cognitive impairment diagnosis, and PET Aβ burden.

Results: LLD showed higher rates of impairment relative to ND with 54.6% of the LLD sample demonstrating impairment in at least one cognitive domain compared to 42.9% of controls (H = 7.13, p = 0.008). LLD had poorer performance and higher rates of impairment on Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test learning and memory compared to controls. In the overall sample, Aβ positivity was associated with worse performance on Logical Memory I (p = 0.044), Logical Memory II (p = 0.011), and Trail Making Test -B (p = 0.032), and APOEɛ4 genotype was associated with worse performance on Logical Memory I (p = 0.022); these relationships did not differ between LLD and ND.

Conclusion: LLD showed higher rates of CI driven by focal deficits in verbal learning and memory. Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers were associated with worse performance on timed set-shifting and story learning and memory, and these relationships were not impacted by depression status. These findings suggest that AD may account for a portion of previously reported multi-domain CI in LLD and highlight the potential for AD to confound studies of cognition in LLD.

Description
item.page.description.tableofcontents
item.page.relation.haspart
Cite As
Rhodes E, Insel PS, Butters MA, et al. The Impact of Amyloid Burden and APOE on Rates of Cognitive Impairment in Late Life Depression. J Alzheimers Dis. 2021;80(3):991-1002. doi:10.3233/JAD-201089
ISSN
Publisher
Series/Report
Sponsorship
Major
Extent
Identifier
Relation
Journal
Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
Rights
Publisher Policy
Source
PMC
Alternative Title
Type
Article
Number
Volume
Conference Dates
Conference Host
Conference Location
Conference Name
Conference Panel
Conference Secretariat Location
Version
Author's manuscript
Full Text Available at
This item is under embargo {{howLong}}