Depressive Symptoms are Associated with Decline Over Time in Verbal Fluency Performance in Female but Not Male Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Objective: The current study was designed to examine associations between depressive symptoms and longitudinal declines in category and letter fluency performance in a gender-stratified sample of older adults.

Method: Participants were community-residing older adults (females: n = 289; males: n = 233) followed annually (2011-2018) as part of a cohort study conducted at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Standard forms assessed category and letter fluency performance. Participants were dementia-free during study enrollment.

Results: The presence of baseline depressive symptoms suggestive of subclinical depression was associated with a worse longitudinal decline in category fluency performance in female but not male participants. These associations remained significant when excluding participants with prevalent and incident mild cognitive impairment and incident dementia. Irrespective of gender, letter fluency performance did not decline over time and was not influenced by the presence of depressive symptoms.

Discussion: The present study's results can aid in identification of older adults who may be at greater risk for cognitive decline, and add to the limited literature examining the influence of gender on longitudinal associations between depressive symptoms and verbal fluency performance.