MRI SIGNAL HYPERINTENSITIES IN GERIATRIC DEPRESSION

Objective: The authors rated periventricular and subcortical signal hy perintensities on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in elderly pa tients with depression and in normal subjects with similar demographic features to examine whether such changes discriminate patients with d epression from normal subjects and whether they are associated with al ly clinical variables. Method: Two established hyperintensity rating s ystems were used to compare the MRI brain scans of 48 elderly patients with depression diagnosed according to DSM-III-R with the scans of 39 normal elderly subjects. Results: Elderly depressed patients manifest ed significantly more severe hyperintensity ratings in the subcortical gray matter than age-matched comparison subjects. Significant differe nces were not identified between patients with similar current ages an d cerebrovascular disease risk who had early-onset or late-onset depre ssion. Conclusions: These findings support those of neuroimaging studi es implicating the basal ganglia in depression and geriatric depressio n. The data suggest that the relationship observed in some reports bet ween late-onset depression and MRI hyperintensities is most likely a f unction of cerebrovascular disease risk and age.