COGNITIVE-FUNCTIONING IN OLDER DEPRESSED OUTPATIENTS - RELATIONSHIP OF PRESENCE AND SEVERITY OF DEPRESSION TO NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TEST-SCORES

Neuropsychological evaluation of 73 older healthy, unmedicated outpatients with major depression and 110 controls suggested that relatively distinct cognitive profiles map correspond to the presence vs. severity of depression. Specifically, the presence of depression was associated with subtle weaknesses in visual memory and nonverbal intelligence, with sparing of verbal skills (verbal intelligence, language, and verbal memory), constructional ability, attention, information-processing speed, and executive functions. In contrast, increasing severity of depression was associated with mild weaknesses, primarily in information-processing speed and executive skills, but was essentially unrelated to memory (verbal or visual), intelligence, language skills, constructional ability, or basic attention. Findings are discussed in terms of a possible state vs. trait modal of depression.