Depression in Alzheimer's Disease

Yong Tae Kwak; YoungSoon Yang; Min-Seong Koo

doi:10.12779/dnd.2014.13.2.27

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Kwak, Yang, and Koo: Depression in Alzheimer's Disease

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Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders 2014; 13(2): 27-36.

Published online: 30 June 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12779/dnd.2014.13.2.27

Depression in Alzheimer's Disease

Yong Tae Kwak, M.D.^*, YoungSoon Yang, M.D.^†, Min-Seong Koo, M.D.^‡

^*Department of Neurology, Hyoja Geriatric Hospital, Yongin, Korea.

^†Department of Neurology, Seoul Veterans Hospital, Seoul, Korea.

^‡Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Kwandong University, Gangnung, Korea.

Address for correspondence: Yong Tae Kwak, M.D. Department of Neurology, Hyoja Geriatric Hospital, 1-30 Jungbu-daero 874 beon-gil, Giheung-gu, Yongin 446-512, Korea. Tel: +82-31-288-0602, Fax: +82-31-288-0539, kwakdr@gmail.com

Received 10 May 2014 Revised 28 May 2014 Accepted 28 May 2014

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Depression is one of the most common psychiatric complications of Alzheimer disease (AD), affecting from 30% to 50% of prevalence, with most estimates in the 20-30% range. Because of having a presentation in the context of AD that differs from typical early-onset depression, it is not easy one to detect and quantify reliably, and can be difficulty to differentiate depression from the other neuropsychiatric symptoms of AD. Due to the lack of large randomized trials, optimal treatment and the true degree of efficacy remains undetermined. However, these treatments can reduce adverse impact of depression on patients and caregivers. This article provides a practical discussion of the diagnosis, evaluation, differential diagnosis and treatment of depression in AD for the clinician.

Keywords: Depression, Alzheimer's disease, Early-onset depression

Figures and Tables

Table 1

Provisional diagnostic criteria for depression of AD

Notes

We have no conflicts of interests.

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