Tips for treating patients with late-life depression

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doi:doi: 10.12788/jfp.0539

Applied Evidence

Tips for treating patients with late-life depression

J Fam Pract. 2023 March;72(2):55-60 | doi: 10.12788/jfp.0539

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References

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A summation of common risk factors. A personal or family history of depression increases the risk for late-life depression. Other risk factors are female gender, bereavement, sleep disturbance, and disability.¹⁸ Poor general health, chronic pain, cognitive impairment, poor social support, and medical comorbidities with impaired functioning increase the likelihood of resultant mood disorders.¹⁸

Somatic complaints may overshadow diagnostic symptoms

Manifestations of depression include disturbed sleep and reductions in appetite, concentration, activity, and energy for daily function.¹⁹ These features, of course, may accompany medical disorders and some normal physiologic changes among elderly people. We find that while older individuals may report a sad mood, disturbed sleep, or other dysfunctions, they frequently emphasize their somatic complaints much more prominently than their emotions. This can make it difficult to recognize clinical depression.

For a diagnosis of major depression, 5 of the following 9 symptoms must be present for most of the day or nearly every day over a period of at least 2 weeks¹⁹: depressed mood; diminished interest in most activities; significant weight loss or decreased appetite; insomnia or hypersomnia; agitation or retardation; fatigue or loss of energy; feelings of worthlessness or guilt; diminished concentration; and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.¹⁹

Planning difficulties, apathy, disability, and anhedonia frequently occur. Executive dysfunction and inefficacy of antidepressant pharmacotherapy are related to compromised frontal-striatal-limbic pathways.²⁰ Since difficulties with planning and organization are associated with suboptimal response to antidepressant medications, a psychotherapeutic focus on these executive functions can augment drug-induced benefit.

Rule out these alternative diagnoses

Dementias can manifest as depression. Other brain pathologies, particularly Parkinson disease or stroke, also should be ruled out. Overmedication can simulate depression, so be sure to review the prescription and over-the-counter agents a patient is taking. Some medications can occasionally precipitate a clinical depression; these include stimulants, steroids, methyldopa, triptans, chemotherapeutic agents, and immunologic drugs, to name a few.¹⁹

Continue to: Pharmacotherapy, Yes, but first, consider these factors