Objective: Authors examined the temporal stability of symptoms of major and minor depression and apathy in dementia.
Methods: A consecutive sample of 65 patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and depression at baseline evaluation received a follow-up psychiatric assessment that included the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression an average of 17 months later.
Results: Half of the sample had no depression at follow-up, and showed a significant improvement in sadness, guilt, suicidal ideation, disruption in sleep, loss of interest, loss of energy, thoughts of death, social withdrawal, psychomotor changes, changes in appetite/weight, and symptoms of anxiety. No significant changes were found on scores of irritability or apathy.
Conclusions: The study demonstrates the specificity of depressive symptoms in AD and suggests that apathy and depression are different behavioral domains.