Are depressive symptoms in mild cognitive impairment predictive of conversion to dementia?

BACKGROUND: Depressive symptoms are common in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). The association between depressive symptoms and conversion to dementia is not yet clear. This longitudinal study was conducted to ascertain whether depressive symptoms in aMCI patients are predictive of conversion to dementia. METHODS: 35 aMCI patients participated in this study. All participants underwent cognitive testing and were administered the geriatric depression scale (GDS) to determine the presence of depressive symptoms. A score equaling or higher than 11 on the GDS was taken as the cut-off point for presence of significant depressive symptoms. Conversion to dementia was assessed at follow-up visits after 1.5, 4, and 10 years. RESULTS: 31.4% of the patients reported depressive symptoms at baseline. None of the cognitive measures revealed a significant difference at baseline between patients with and without depressive symptoms. After 1.5, 4, and 10 years respectively 6, 14, and 23 patients had converted to dementia. Although the GDS scores at baseline did not predict conversion to dementia, the cognitive measures and more specifically a verbal cued recall task (the memory impairment scale-plus) was a good predictor for conversion. CONCLUSIONS: Based on this dataset, the presence of depressive symptoms in aMCI patients is not predictive of conversion to dementia.

The 10-word learning task in the differential diagnosis of early Alzheimer's disease and elderly depression: A cross-sectional pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: Identification of early Alzheimer's disease (AD) has become very important. Episodic memory tasks appear to have predictive power for indicating early AD. Deficits in encoding and storage processes that are characteristic of AD, however, must be distinguished from non-AD deficits that can also affect memory, including difficulties that may be present in depression. This pilot study was set up to ascertain whether a 10-word-list-learning task (delayed recognition and rate of forgetting) may be useful in making the differentiation between mild AD and depression. METHOD: A Dutch version of Rey's auditory verbal learning test was administered to 36 mild AD patients, 41 depressed patients, and 47 healthy controls. Data were analyzed in a cross-sectional manner. RESULTS: Receiver operating characteristic analyses showed that for differentiating mild AD and depression, both delayed recognition and percentage of forgetting have sufficient diagnostic accuracy. CONCLUSION: Percentage of forgetting had the highest diagnostic accuracy for differentiating mild AD and depressed patients and may be useful in the early detection of AD.

Adolescents' mental health outcomes according to different types of exposure to ongoing terror attacks.

This study investigates the impact of several types of exposure to terror attacks on adolescents' psychological outcomes in the context of ongoing terror. A total of 913 adolescents (51% girls) aged 12 to 18 years (12-13.6 = 33%; 13.7-15.6 = 38%; 15.7-18 = 28%) took part in the study. Detailed data were collected concerning objective, subjective and "mixed" types of exposure to terror, as well as demographics, post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), emotional and behavioral problems and overall psychological and psychiatric difficulties. Subjective exposure was found to be the most important contributor to adolescents' post-traumatic stress and other mental health problems in this context. Gender also had important effects. The effects of objective and mixed types of exposure, as well as age, were less prominent. We did find, however, that the more adolescents consulted media, the less they experienced behavioral and emotional problems. Given that subjective experiences appear to be the best factor in explaining mental health outcomes when adolescents are confronted with persistent terror, the cognitive and emotional dynamics along with the coping behavior linked to such experiences merit further investigation.

Coping styles as moderating the relationships between terrorist attacks and well-being outcomes.

This study aims to explore use of coping strategies among adolescents and their relationships with well being in the context of ongoing terrorism. Furthermore, we aim to explore to what extent coping styles in addition to exposure variables explain well being of adolescents facing ongoing terror. During September 2003, after three years of ongoing terror attacks, 913 Israeli adolescents aged 12-18 years, completed the following questionnaires during regular class sessions: Demographics, Achenbach's Youth Self Report; Exposure to Terror and Post Traumatic Stress (PTS) questionnaire; Adolescent Coping Scale (ACS) and Brief Symptoms Inventory. Adolescents employed mainly problem solving strategies which mean they have the capacity to cope well in spite of stressful events. Emotional focused coping was associated with PTS and mental health problems. Regression analysis of different exposure and coping variables revealed that exposure, appraisal (subjective exposure) and coping styles explained 26-37% of the variance of different psychological problems. The findings highlight the importance of appraisal (subjective exposure) and coping strategies, for understanding adolescents' mental health outcomes. Moreover, these findings are relevant to the development of prevention/intervention programs that facilitate youth's cognitive and emotional adjustments to ongoing trauma risks and terror threats.

Differentiation between dementia and depression among older persons: can the difference between actual and premorbid intelligence be useful?

We wanted to investigate whether the difference between actual and premorbid intelligence can be useful to make an early differentiation between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and depression among elderly. A Dutch version of the National Adult Reading Test (NLV), a measure of premorbid IQ and the Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM), a measure of actual intelligence were administered to patients with mild (34) and moderate (27) AD, depressed elderly (36) and healthy control subjects (51). Logistic regression analyses revealed that intellectual decline (i.e. subtracting NLV percentile score from RCPM percentile score) was only able to predict group membership when moderate AD patients were compared to depressed and healthy individuals. Our results indicate that intellectual decline may not be a concomitant of elderly depression. However, the differentiation between mild AD and elderly depression can not be made by means of the difference between premorbid (NLV) and actual (RCPM) intelligence scores.

Socio-emotional and language development of 2-year-old children born after PGD/PGS, and parental well-being.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to assess socio-emotional and language development in 2-year-old children born after preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and genetic aneuploidy screening (PGS), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and natural conception (NC) and to assess parental well-being. METHODS: Parents of 2-year-old PGD/PGS (n = 41), ICSI (n = 35) and NC (n = 53) singleton children were recruited. The socio-emotional development of the children was assessed using the Child Behavioural Checklist (CBCL) and the Short Temperament Scale for Toddlers. Parental stress and health status was measured with the Parent Stress Index and the General Health Questionnaire. Language development was assessed with the McArthur Communicative Development Inventories. RESULTS: No differences were found for temperament, language development, parental stress or health status. The mothers in the PGD/PGS and ICSI group reported significantly fewer CBCL Total problems than their NC counterparts, whereas for the CBCL Externalizing problems, only the ICSI mothers reported fewer problems than their PGD/PGS and NC counterparts. Fathers in the ICSI group also rated their children as having fewer Externalizing and Total behavioural problems. CONCLUSIONS: PGD/PGS conception does not adversely affect children's socio-emotional and language development at age 2, nor did parents differ from ICSI and NC parents for parental stress and health status.

The expectations and experiences of children attending Burn Camps: a qualitative study.

The use of evaluation forms has increased with the steadily growing interest in child-centered research. The purpose of this study is 2-fold: 1) to examine the benefits of attending the National Burn Camp, a therapeutic recreation program set up in Belgium for burn-injured children aimed at alleviating the impact of their burns, and 2) to evaluate the camp program from the standpoint of the children, their parents, and the staff members to make improvements to the program. Evaluation forms were gathered from 19 children (12-18 years), parents (N = 14), and staff members (N = 20) who agreed to fill out open-ended questions at different times. Evaluation data demonstrated evidence of increased self-confidence, improved coping skills, developed social skills, new relationships, and a sense of achievement at having taken part in a therapeutic recreation program. Children genuinely benefit psychologically, according to the participants themselves, their parents, and staff members. Evaluation forms can provide additional and more profound explanatory information on the wishes and demands of the participants, their parents, and staff members. Moreover, they are of great importance when it comes to adapting and improving camp programs.

Mental and psychomotor development of 2-year-old children born after preimplantation genetic diagnosis/screening.

BACKGROUND: Embryo biopsy is a new invasive procedure applied in ART for diagnostic purposes in preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) or to increase pregnancy rate in preimplantation genetic screening (PGS). The objective of this study is to assess mental and psychomotor developmental outcomes in 2-year-old children born after PGD/PGS, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and natural conception (NC). METHODS: Two-year-old PGD/PGS (n = 70), ICSI (n = 70) and naturally conceived (n = 70) singleton children were recruited. The participation rate in the NC group was 88.6% and 94.5% in both ART conception groups. The mental and psychomotor development of the children was assessed using the Dutch version of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. The mothers were questioned about socio-demographic characteristics. RESULTS: Even after controlling for socio-demographic variables, no differences were found between the three conception groups for the mental and psychomotor developmental outcomes. Moreover, an equal number of PGD/PGS, ICSI and NC children obtained scores within the mildly delayed, the normal and the accelerated performance category of the BSID-II-NL. CONCLUSIONS: Children conceived after PGD/PGS show similar mental and psychomotor developmental outcomes at age 2 to children conceived after ICSI or naturally.

Family functioning in lesbian families created by donor insemination.

The quantitative and qualitative data of this study on family functioning in lesbian donor insemination families reveal that according to both parents and children, the quality of children's relationship with the social mother is comparable to that with the biological mother. Unlike fathers in heterosexual families, the lesbian social mother is as much involved in child activities as is the biological mother. Furthermore, the lesbian social mother has as much authority as does the father in heterosexual families.