Citation

Pearlson GD, Ross CA, Lohr WD, Rovner BW, Chase GA, Folstein MF. Am. J. Psychiatry 1990; 147(4): 452-456.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, American Psychiatric Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2316731

Abstract

For each of 41 index patients with probable Alzheimer's disease and a first episode of major depression and 71 nondepressed Alzheimer's disease patients, two first-degree relatives were interviewed by a rater blind to presence or absence of depression in the proband. The depressed patients had significantly more first- and second-degree relatives with depression than did control subjects. The lifetime risk for major depression, adjusted for differences in age distribution, was significantly greater in first-degree relatives of index patients, suggesting that depression in Alzheimer's disease is genetically related to primary affective disorder. Alzheimer's disease may be useful for studying aspects of depressive pathophysiology.

Language: en