|
Depression
a killer for older men...
Earlier
studies support this theory
Depression
is not good for anyone but older men who become depressed are more likely to
die than are women, according to a new study. Other studies in recent years
have reached similar conclusions.
"Depression
may be an early sign of impending physical decline," says the author of
this recent study, Kaarin Anstey, Ph.D., of the Center for Mental Health
Research at Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. "Or
it may incur a physiological response that predisposes individuals to
cardiovascular disease or cancer."
Anstey
and co-author Mary A. Luszcz, Ph.D., of the School of Psychology and Center
for Aging Studies at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia,
analyzed data from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Aging, focusing on
individuals aged 70 or older. More than 1,900 participants completed a
questionnaire measuring depression in 1992; a subset of these participants
completed it in 1994. The researchers tracked the health of the participants
until 2000.
Participants
were classified as having "incident depression" if their
questionnaire scores indicated they were depressed the second time they took
the test but not the first time. They received a classification of
"remitted depression" if their depression had relented the second
time they took the test and "chronic depression" if their scores
were high on both occasions.
After
taking into account factors such as smoking, alcohol and medical conditions,
depression was associated with mortality for men but not women, the
researchers found.
"Our
findings confirm previous studies showing that late-life depression occurs
more often in women, but has greater negative outcomes for men," says
Anstey.
The
significant effect of depression on male mortality was small but
"robust," suggesting that depression may play a role in causing
health changes in men, according to the study. Incident depression had the
strongest association with death for men. The effects of chronic and
remitted depression were not statistically significant when the researchers
took medical conditions into account.
The
lack of a statistically significant association between chronic depression
and mortality may relate to chronically depressed participants skewing
results by dropping out between the first and second questionnaires. The
effects of chronic depression in this study are probably underestimated
because of these dropouts, according to the study.
The
finding that remitted depression was not associated with mortality
"suggests that treating depression in very old adults may reduce the
risk of mortality," says Anstey. The study results are published in the
November/December issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.
The
researchers suggest that depression may be a precursor of cardiovascular
disease or dementia, or may occur in concert with these conditions.
Study
in 2000 Supports Theory
A
study in 2000 said both men and women with depression have an increased risk
for coronary heart disease (CHD); however, men are at an increased risk of
CHD mortality while women are not. according to an article published
in the May 8, 2000, issue of the American Medical Association's Archives of
Internal Medicine.
To
investigate the differential effect depression may have on CHD incidence and
death in men and women, the researchers analyzed data from 5,007 women and
2,886 men enrolled in the first National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey (NHANES I), who did not have CHD at the 1982-1984 interview and had
been evaluated for depression. It was published in the May 8, 2000,
issue of the American Medical Association's Archives of Internal Medicine.
The
authors found that depressed women were at 73 percent greater risk for CHD
events than women who were not depressed but were not at increased risk of
dying from CHD. Depressed men had a 71 percent greater risk of CHD incidence
and 2.34 times the risk of dying from CHD than men who were not depressed.
The authors recommend further research to define the mechanism that links
depression to elevated CHD risk in patients without heart disease so
interventions can be established to reduce CHD risk.
|
Now,
keep up to date with daily feeds of newly posted stories about America's
Seniors...click on the box to the left