Pharmacoelectroencephalography
Original Paper

Mild Cognitive Impairment in Old-Age Depression Is Associated with Increased EEG Slow-Wave Power
Georg Adler, Anke Bramesfeld, Ana Jajcevic

Day Clinic for the Elderly, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany

Address of Corresponding Author

Neuropsychobiology 1999;40:218-222 (DOI: 10.1159/000026623)

  Key Words

• EEG
• Old-age depression
• Cognitive impairment
• Dementia

  Abstract

Reversible dementia in geriatric depression is known to be a risk factor for irreversible dementia. Whether just mild cognitive deficits in elderly depressed patients hold a similar risk is not known yet. It may be suggested that elderly depressed patients with mild cognitive deficits, who are prone to develop dementia, show EEG alterations similar to those observed in demented patients. We studied the relationships between cognitive performance, severity of depressive symptoms and quantitative EEG parameters in 31 unmedicated, nondemented, depressed patients aged 60 years or more. Twenty-one of the patients showed a cognitive performance characteristic of mild cognitive impairment. In these patients, the mean delta and theta power was significantly higher than in the patients without cognitive impairment. Total delta power was negatively correlated with cognitive performance. There was no relationship between cognitive performance or EEG parameters and the severity of depression.

Copyrightz1999S.KargerAG,Basel

  Author Contacts

Dr. Georg Adler
Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit
PO Box 12 21 20, D-68072 Mannheim (Germany)
Tel. +49 621 1703 792, Fax +49 621 23429
E-Mail adler@as200.zi-mannheim.de

  Article Information

Number of Print Pages : 5
Number of Figures : 2, Number of Tables : 1, Number of References : 33