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The behavioral assessment of depression for people with dementia
The Village at Manor Park, West Allis, Wisconsin
Integrated Community Resources, West Allis, Wisconsin The underdiagnosis of depression is considered to be very common in primary care with only one-third to onehalf of those people with a major depressive disorder being identified. 1In addition to major depression, 50 percent of the approximately 1.5 million people in the United States residing in nursing facilities have less severe symptoms of depression which are also undiagnosed and untreated.2The under diagnosis of depression is even more apparent when a person has a cognitive impairment since the symptoms of depression are often mistakenly attributed to dementia.3The following study compared the symptoms or behaviors of two groups of people, those with dementia and those with dementia and depression, using symptoms/behaviors taken from the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia. Of the 19 symptoms on the CSDD, none significantly discriminated the depressed group from the nondepressed group. This finding suggests that diagnosis based upon current observational approaches is insufficient when assessing for depression with concomitant moderate to severe dementia. Further considerations for assessing depression in dementia were discussed.
American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias®, Vol. 15, No. 5,
303-307 (2000) |
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