COGNITIVE-FUNCTIONING IN A MILDLY TO MODERATELY DEPRESSED GERIATRIC SAMPLE - RELATIONSHIP TO CHRONOLOGICAL AGE

The neuropsychological performance of three age cohorts of depressed p atients (46-59, 60-69, and 70-85) was compared with the performance of age-matched control subjects to determine whether advancing age poten tiates the effect of depression on cognition. Depression and increasin g age did not interact to produce more pronounced cognitive deteriorat ion in our unmedicated, medically healthy, well-educated outpatients d iagnosed with mild to moderate major depression. Test findings suggest that presence of mild to moderate depression may result in premature ''aging'' of specific cognitive abilities (such as nonverbal memory, w ord generation, and categorization), but once the seventh decade is re ached, cognition in depressed and nondepressed individuals appears to be comparable.