Cerebrovascular disease and late life depression: an age old association revisited

Objectives: To examine the relationship between depression and cerebrovascular disease in three distinct settings: depression in established cerebrovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease in established depression and depression in vascular dementia.

Methods: Medline, EMBASE, PsychLit and PsychInfo databases were scanned to locate relevant articles. Data were also extracted from other articles, cited by those articles generated from the above databases.

Results: Using operational criteria, the prevalence of depression is higher than controls only within the first year after stroke, but most studies have not employed control groups. The prevalence of depression in vascular dementia compared with Alzheimer's disease is higher in the majority of studies, but matching for sociodemographic factors and severity of cognitive impairment has been inconsistent. An association between frontal/subcortical cerebrovascular lesions and depression in later life has been observed, but there may be methodological flaws underlying this observation in some computerized tomography studies.

Conclusion: There is some evidence that cerebrovascular disease has an aetiopathological role in late life depression. The increased likelihood of damage to frontal/subcortical brain circuitry following stroke, transient ischaemia and hypertension may explain the high prevalence of depression in older people with vascular risk factors. More valid definitions of lesion location and the use of appropriately matched control groups would seek to clarify this issue. The extrapolation to care settings from the high prevalence of depression accompanying cerebrovascular disease and the prolongation of disability in depressed people with stroke, suggests closer liaison between old age psychiatrists, neurologists and physicians caring for the elderly.