Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT.
Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT; Center for Cognitive Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Geriatric Research Educational and Clinical Center, Tennessee Valley Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Nashville, TN.
Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2015 Apr;23(4):433-436. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2014.09.011. Epub 2014 Oct 5.
Older adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) experience poor cognitive and behavioral outcomes as MDD occurs in the context of other age-related brain changes. Patients with depression often have impairments on measures of frontal lobe functioning such as working memory. Understanding the effects of depression on cognitive functioning in older adults is important for the development of treatment strategies that focus on cognitive changes as well as mood.
Eleven older adults with current MDD and 12 nondepressed comparison participants (all aged 60 years and older) performed the N-back test of working memory during fMRI.
Depressed older adults performed worse than nondepressed participants on the N-back task. Depressed older adults had decreased lateral frontal and parietal activation during the most difficult working memory load condition on the N-back compared with nondepressed older adults.
Cognitive dysfunction in geriatric depression may be related to reorganization of brain networks involved in working memory.
患有重度抑郁症（MDD）的老年人在认知和行为方面的预后较差，因为 MDD 是在与年龄相关的大脑变化的背景下发生的。抑郁症患者在额叶功能的测量上经常存在损伤，例如工作记忆。了解抑郁症对老年人认知功能的影响对于制定治疗策略非常重要，这些策略不仅要关注情绪变化，还要关注认知变化。
11 名患有当前 MDD 的老年患者和 12 名无抑郁的对照组参与者（年龄均在 60 岁及以上）在 fMRI 期间进行了工作记忆 N 回测试。
与无抑郁的参与者相比，患有 MDD 的老年患者在 N-back 任务中的表现更差。与无抑郁的老年参与者相比，患有 MDD 的老年患者在 N-back 任务中最困难的工作记忆负荷条件下，外侧额叶和顶叶的激活减少。
老年抑郁症的认知功能障碍可能与参与工作记忆的大脑网络的重组有关。
