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The onset of depression can stem from the same cause that leads to a toxic build-up of plaques in the brain linked to Alzheimer's disease, a new study has revealed. According to researchers from Bringham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, depression affects a part of your brain which is vulnerable to cognitive decline.
"Our findings provide additional support for depressive symptoms as an early feature of preclinical Alzheimer's disease," wrote a team led by Dr. Catherine Munro, a neuropsychologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "It's not that depression caused Alzheimer's disease, it's just that Alzheimer's disease pathology affecting this part of the brain resulted in depressive symptoms relatively early on in the course."
As the Boston researchers point out, "neuropsychiatric symptoms, particularly depression, are common in Alzheimer's disease." However, the exact links between depression and Alzheimer's are not very clear.
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The findings, published in JAMA Network, tracked rates of depressive symptoms in 154 people enrolled in the ongoing Harvard Aging Brain Study. Researchers said all of them were mentally unimpaired as they joined the study, and data were collected between 2010-2022. Results of PET scans were taken of each patient's brain once every two to three years for an average of just under nine years.
The scans also included studies on the accumulation of amyloid protein plaques within brain tissues – a known hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
Findings said among those who either had mild depressive symptoms or none when they entered the study, "increasing depressive symptoms were associated with early amyloid accumulation in brain regions involved in emotional control." They noted that the link between depression and amyloid buildup occurred whether troubles with memory or thinking had already begun to appear.
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The link between depression and Alzheimer’s
Experts believe the study will clear up confusion around links between depression and Alzheimer's disease as the data could identify depression as a potential sign of Alzheimer's in at-risk people. They also noted that early detection of Alzheimer's is becoming more important in an era where newly approved drugs can help slow the illness.
According to researchers, if the two are linked, drugs – targeted at amyloid may even be able to slow down cognitive decline along with behaviour issues – like stress and depression.
The Boston researchers agreed that depressive symptoms might someday become part of the checklist for diagnosing Alzheimer's. The findings "underscore the importance of monitoring new and increasing affective [emotional] symptoms in addition to cognitive changes in older adults presenting in psychiatry clinics and when screening for Alzheimer's disease," they said.
How to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s?
To reduce the risk of this debilitating disease, you must take care of the following:
- Eat a healthy diet
- Stay physically active
- Manage your health
- Protect your head
- Stay mentally and socially active
- Manage stress
- Prevent hearing loss
- Cognitive training