Subjective depressive mood and regional cerebral blood flow in mild Alzheimer's disease. (May 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Honda, Hajime; Terada, Seishi; Sato, Shuhei; Oshima, Etsuko; Ikeda, Chikako; Nagao, Shigeto; Yokota, Osamu; Uchitomi, Yosuke
• Is Part Of: International psychogeriatrics. Volume 26:Number 5(2014:May)
• Page Start: 817
• Page End: 823
• Publication Date: 2014-05
• Subjects: Geriatric psychiatry -- Periodicals; 618.9768905
• DOI: 10.1017/S1041610213002573
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1041-6102

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title>ABSTRACT</title> <sec> <title>Background:</title> <p>Depressive symptoms are common in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and increase the caregiver burden, although the etiology and pathologic mechanism of depressive symptoms in AD patients remain unclear. In this study, we tried to clarify the cerebral blood flow (CBF) correlates of subjective depressive symptoms in AD.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>Methods:</title> <p>Seventy-six consecutive patients with AD were recruited from outpatient units of the Memory Clinic of Okayama University Hospital. Subjective depressive symptoms were evaluated using the short version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). All patients underwent brain SPECT with 99mTc-ethylcysteinate dimer, and the SPECT images were analyzed by the Statistical Parametric Mapping 8 program.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>Results:</title> <p>No significant differences between groups with high and low GDS scores were found with respect to age, sex, years of education, and revised Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination scores. Compared to patients with low scores on GDS, patients with high scores showed significant hypoperfusion in the left inferior frontal region.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>Conclusions:</title> <p>The left inferior frontal region may be significantly involved in the pathogenesis of subjective depressive symptoms in AD. Subjective and objective depressive symptoms may have somewhat different neural substrates in AD.</p> </sec> </abstract>