Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been associated with both early- and late-life depression. This study investigated whether baseline MetS and its individual components are associated with... Show moreBackground: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been associated with both early- and late-life depression. This study investigated whether baseline MetS and its individual components are associated with the course of depression over six years among older persons with a formal depression diagnosis.Methods: Data were used from 378 older persons with a depressive disorder from the Netherlands Study of Depression in Old age (NESDO) with a 6-year follow-up. A formal depression diagnosis according to DSM-IV-TR criteria was ascertained with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Severity of depressive symptoms was assessed with the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology at 6-month intervals. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) was defined according the modified National Cholesterol Education Programme - Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Primary outcome was time to remission from depression. We applied cox regression analysis for the primary outcome and linear mixed models for secondary analyses.Results: Neither MetS nor its individual components were associated with time to remission from depression (MetS: HR = 1.03; 95% CI = 0.74 - 1.44; p = 0.85), or with depression severity (MetS: B = 0.02; SE = 0.04; p = 0.64) and course of depressive symptoms (MetS: B = -0.01; SE = 0.01; p = 0.23) over 6-years follow-up.Limitations: Attrition was relatively high (46.8%). Furthermore, we only had information on formal depression diagnosis at baseline, 2-year, and 6-year follow-up.Conclusions: We found no evidence for an effect of baseline presence of metabolic dysregulation on the course of formally diagnosed depression in older persons. Metabolic syndrome in depressed patients should be clinically monitored for other reasons than predicting chronicity or severity of depression. Show less
Henstra, M.J.; Feenstra, T.C.; Velde, N. van der; Mast, R.C. van der; Comijs, H.; Stek, M.L.; Rhebergen, D. 2019
Background In older people, both apathy and depression (which frequently co-occurs with apathy) have been associated with poor physical functioning, a major health concern. We investigated the... Show moreBackground In older people, both apathy and depression (which frequently co-occurs with apathy) have been associated with poor physical functioning, a major health concern. We investigated the association between apathy and physical functioning in older people without dementia and whether this association is modified by depression.Methods We used the data from 380 older participants (with and without depression) taking part in the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older Persons, with baseline scores on the Apathy Scale and baseline and 2-year follow-up scores on at least one measure of physical functioning. These included the International Physical Activities Questionnaire (IPAQ, self-reported), WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHO-DASII mobility subset, self-reported), walking speed, or handgrip strength. Multivariable linear regression analyses were performed to examine the association between apathy at baseline and physical functioning at 2-year follow-up. We also investigated effect modification by sex, age, and depression.Results Cross-sectionally, participants with higher baseline Apathy Scale scores performed significantly worse on all measures of physical functioning. Longitudinally, higher baseline Apathy Scale scores were associated with higher delta scores on the IPAQ (B = -59.81) in the basic model, and higher delta scores on the WHO-DASII (B = .09) in all models. Apathy was not associated with higher delta scores for walking speed or handgrip strength. Furthermore, sex, age, and depression did not modify any association.Conclusion In a Dutch cohort of older people without dementia, apathy was associated with more decline in self-reported, but not in objective physical functioning. Sex, age, and depression did not modify these associations. In older people with apathy, subjective decline may precede decline in physical performance tests. Show less
