G S Alexopoulos

..This study focused on the placebo lead-in phase and examines whether change in severity of depression during placebo lead-in predicts change in depressive symptoms during antidepressant treatment...

..This study investigated the relationship of executive and memory impairment to relapse, recurrence, and course of residual depressive symptoms and signs after remission of geriatric major depression...

..Site of service and the patients' sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were investigated as possible predictors...

..Attention to executive function and disability may guide clinical management and lead to development of innovative pharmacological and behavioral interventions...

..Continuation treatment with a conventional antipsychotic does not decrease relapse rates but is associated with significant untoward adverse events in older persons after recovery from a delusional depression...

..The authors' goal was to examine the extent to which perceived stigma affected treatment discontinuation in young and older adults with major depression...

..Strategies are discussed for ensuring that data are complete, valid and reliable...

..They also suggest that hippocampal dysfunction is related to the memory dysfunction characteristic of this disorder...

..To our knowledge, the Cornell scale is the only depression-rating instrument that has been validated in both demented and nondemented geriatric subjects...

..Regardless of patients' depression status, increased P300 latency predicts poorer performance on executive function tasks requiring speeded performance...

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..The somatic presentation of depression may contribute to the increased services utilization...

..Personality disorder symptoms in elderly patients appear to operate as co-factors that amplify or exacerbate the impact of residual depression on long-term functioning and quality of life...

..Descriptions of aged patients with bipolar (BP) disorder have commented on cognitive impairments. However, the literature regarding cognitive test performance in this population has apparently been scant...

..Evidence for the efficacy of combination pharmacotherapy has been limited and without positive trials in geriatric patients with major depression (MD) with psychotic features...

..The authors examined the impact of barriers that were present at the initiation of antidepressant drug therapy on medication adherence in a mixed-age sample of outpatients with major depression...

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..Depression in old age is a major contributor to the global burden of illness-related disability, but it is extremely treatable if appropriate pharmacotherapy is prescribed and accepted by patients and their caregivers...

..However, some patients experience subsyndromal symptoms after they achieve remission. This study examines the prognostic significance of subsyndromal symptoms occurring during the first 6 months after remission of late-life depression...

..We also recommend directions for future research in the area of psychiatric comorbidity in late life...

..This study tested the hypothesis that microstructural white matter abnormalities in frontostriatal-limbic tracts are associated with poor response inhibition on the Stroop task in depressed elders...

..The authors assessed frontal and subcortical SH in elderly bipolar manic patients and the comparison group, and hypothesized that SH scores would be greater in the patient group...

..Improvement of depression may be the result of behavioral interventions rather than the use of antidepressant drugs...

..Although depressive conditions in later life are a major public health problem, the outcomes of minor and subsyndromal depression are largely unknown...

..It has been hypothesized that depressive symptoms and dementia may be attributable to underlying vascular disease in some older persons...

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..This study examined the relationship of executive impairment to the course of depressive symptoms among elderly patients with major depression...

..The intervention supplements antidepressant therapy for depression with an individualized care manager who targets psychological barriers that interfere with treatment participation...

..Within the limits of expert opinion and with the expectation that new research data will take precedence, these guidelines may provide direction for clinicians offering care to patients with dementia...

..This study used neuropsychological measures of executive skills to examine the functioning of frontostriatal networks in elderly bipolar patients...

..The objective of this study was to identify subtle white matter abnormalities in late-life depression...

..The authors used diffusion tensor imaging to test the hypothesis that depressed elders who fail to achieve remission have microstructural white matter abnormalities in cortico-striato-limbic networks implicated in geriatric depression...

..The effect of risperidone augmentation of citalopram for relapse prevention in older patients with antidepressant-resistant depression was evaluated...

..There have been mixed findings regarding the prognostic significance of age of onset, executive dysfunction, and hyperintensity burden on treatment outcome in late-life depression...

..This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of escitalopram versus duloxetine in the acute treatment of patients with moderate to severe major depressive disorder...

..e., Sexual Interest, Increased Activity-Energy, Speech--Rate and Amount, and Disruptive-Aggressive Behavior...

..Thus, these findings suggest that two distinct conflict-processing functions of the anterior cingulate are important for antidepressant response of geriatric depression...

..To describe the influence of domains of cognition on remission and response of depression in an intervention trial among older primary care patients...

..The authors argue that the available methods provide complementary information and that, when combined judiciously, can increase the knowledge gained from neuroimaging findings and conceptually advance the field of geriatric depression...

..However, in North America at least, public insurance covers these services inadequately...

..In addition, it sought to identify risk factors for nonremission that could guide treatment planning and referral to care managers or specialists...

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..The authors described the influence of specific medical conditions on clinical remission and response of major depression (MDD) in a clinical trial evaluating a care-management intervention among older primary-care patients...

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..This study tested the hypothesis that microstructural abnormalities in white matter areas of the brain containing frontostriatal tracts are associated with a low rate of remission of geriatric depression...

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..Care managers working together with primary care physicians can improve the recognition and treatment of depressed elderly patients by obtaining the training in using validated instruments and treatment algorithms...

..Timely identification of attentional and executive processes fundamental to the daily functioning of depressed older adults may lead to compensatory strategies that will improve the outcomes of late-life depression...

..Prevention and treatment trials are underway to detect the effectiveness of improved treatment of depression by primary care physicians as a means of reducing the prevalence of depressive symptoms, hopelessness and suicidal ideation...

..This study tested the hypothesis that frontal error negative wave amplitude on EEG during Stroop test activation predict change in depressive symptoms in depressed elders...

..There is early evidence that psychosocial interventions aimed at improving the behavioral deficits of DED patients may also be effective in increasing remission rates and reducing depressive symptoms and disability...

..The TIP is an individualized, early intervention to address older adults' attitudes (e.g., perceived need for care and stigma) about depression and treatment...

..The findings of this study provide the rationale for investigation of the role of specific frontostriatal-limbic pathways in predisposing to geriatric depression or worsening its course...

..The intervention's effectiveness in reducing suicidal ideation, regardless of depression severity, reinforces its role as a prevention strategy to reduce risk factors for suicide in late life...

..Our results suggest that such compensatory mechanisms are not restricted to later higher-order cognitive processes but may also be a feature of early sensory-perceptual processes...

..Many older adults with major depression (MDD) present with impairment in initiation and perseveration (IP) tests. However, it remains unclear how these abnormalities change during the course of depression...

..These findings may aid clinicians in identifying patients needing vigilant follow-up, because depression with executive dysfunction was found to be associated with disability, poor treatment response, relapse, and recurrence...

..Cautions and limitations regarding the reliance on randomized, controlled trials, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews also are presented...

..Plasma DbetaH is under genetic control by the structural locus encoding DbetaH protein, DBH. This study tested the hypothesis that diagnosis-specific allelic variation at DBH accounts for lower plasma DbetaH in UDPF...

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..In this small sample of patients, increased depressive symptoms at 6 months after surgery appear to be associated with the occurrence of subsequent major cardiac morbidity/ mortality...

..CONCLUSIONS: These relationships may provide the background for developing interventions targeting functional deficits associated with specific cognitive dysfunctions and depression...

..CONCLUSION: Venlafaxine ER is equally safe and well tolerated by and shows similar efficacy in younger and older patients in the treatment of GAD...

..If these findings are confirmed, PST may become an important therapeutic alternative for a patient population who may otherwise remain symptomatic and disabled...

..Clinicians should keep in mind that no guidelines can address the complexities of an individual patient and that sound clinical judgment based on clinical experience should be used in applying these recommendations...

..Studies on the course of major depressive disorder (MDD) among elderly persons are limited to short periods of follow-up, seldom provide comparisons with younger cohorts, and raise other methodological concerns...