Depression in vascular dementia.

Abstract

Vascular dementia results from ischemic injury to the brain. Depression is a frequent complication of cerebrovascular dementia (CVD) occurring in 25 to 80% of patients during the course of their illness. Depression is unrelated to the severity of intellectual compromise or to the co-existence of delusions. The symptom profile of depression in CVD is indistinguishable from that of late-onset idiopathic major depressive episodes. The frequency of depression differs with the subtype of CVD and is most common in disorders with lesions of the frontal lobes, either cortical or subcortical. In addition to lesion site, other contributors to depression in CVD include vascular disease of other organs, drug therapy of co-existing medical conditions, and psychological reactions to disability. The depression of CVD responds to treatment with antidepressant agents.