Objective

Cognitive impairments among older adults are commonly linked to poor medical and psychiatric treatment adherence, increased disability, and poor health outcomes. Recent investigations suggest that cognitive impairments are frequently not recognized by healthcare providers and are often poorly documented in medical records. Older adults utilizing services at community mental health centers have numerous risk factors for developing cognitive impairment. Few studies have explored the incidence and documentation of cognitive impairments in this patient population.

Methods

Data were collected from 52 ethnically diverse older adults with severe mental illness who were participating in treatment at a large community mental health center. Cognitive impairment was diagnosed by neuropsychologists utilizing the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-2 (DRS). Measures of depression severity and substance abuse history were also obtained. An age and education corrected DRS total score falling at or below the tenth percentile was used as the criteria for diagnosing cognitive impairment. A medical chart review was subsequently conducted to determine the documentation of cognitive impairments among this patient population.

Results

Cognitive impairment was exhibited by 60% of participants and documented in medical charts for 17% of the sample.

Conclusions

Preliminary data suggests that cognitive impairment is common in individuals with severe mental illness treated at community mental health centers, but these cognitive impairments are not well recognized or documented. The impact of cognitive impairment on psychiatric treatment and case management among community mental health patients is therefore poorly understood.

Background

Older adults with severe psychiatric illness are often treated at community mental health centers (CMHCs) and these individuals commonly have numerous risk factors for cognitive impairment (CI). Brief cognitive screening instruments are frequently used to evaluate cognitive functioning in CMHCs, but the validity of these measures for detecting CI has not been adequately evaluated in this patient population.

Objectives

To determine the sensitivity and specificity of 2 cognitive screening measures (the Mini-Mental Status Examination [MMSE] and the Stroop Color and Word Test [SCWT]) for detecting CI in a sample of older adults with severe psychiatric illness.

Methods

Data were collected from 52 older adults receiving services at a CMHC. Diagnosis of CI was made by a neuropsychologist. Sensitivity and specificity coefficients for 2 cutoff scores for the MMSE and the SCWT were calculated.

Results

A cutoff score of 25 on the MMSE yielded a sensitivity of 43.3% and a specificity of 90.4% for detecting CI, whereas a cutoff score of 21 yielded sensitivity of 13.1% and 100% specificity. Using an age- and education-corrected scaled score (SS) on the SCWT falling at or below 7 as the criterion the SCWT had 88.8% sensitivity and 36.8% specificity, whereas a cutoff score of 5 or below yielded sensitivity of 59.2% and specificity of 57.8%.

Conclusions

Overall, the MMSE was found to be the more clinically useful cognitive screening tool for use in CMHC. Yet, because of the poor sensitivity of the MMSE for detecting CI in this patient population, alternative screening methods should be explored.

Objective

This study was conducted to determine the effect of cognitive impairment (CI) on mental healthcare costs for older low-income adults with severe psychiatric illness.

Methods

Data were collected from 62 ethnically diverse low-income older adults with severe psychiatric illness who were participating in day programming at a large community mental health center. CI was diagnosed by a neuropsychologist utilizing the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-Second Edition and structured ratings of functional impairment (Clinical Dementia Rating Scale). Mental healthcare costs for 6, 12, and 24-month intervals before cognitive assessments were obtained for each participant. Substance abuse history was evaluated utilizing a structured questionnaire, depression symptom severity was assessed utilizing the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and psychiatric diagnoses were obtained through medical chart abstraction.

Results

CI was exhibited by 61% of participants and was associated with significantly increased mental healthcare costs during 6, 12, and 24-month intervals. Results of a regression analysis indicated that ethnicity and CI were both significant predictors of log transformed mental healthcare costs over 24 months with CI accounting for 13% of the variance in cost data.

Conclusions

CI is a significant factor associated with increased mental healthcare costs in patients with severe psychiatric illness. Identifying targeted interventions to accommodate CI may lead to improving treatment outcomes and reducing the burden of mental healthcare costs for individuals with severe psychiatric illness.

Background

To test the hypothesis that white matter lesions (WML) are primarily associated with regional frontal cortical volumes, and to determine the mediating effects of these regional frontal cortices on the associations of WML with depressive symptoms and cognitive dysfunction.

Methods

Structural brains MRIs were performed on 161 participants: cognitively normal, cognitive impaired but not demented, and demented participants. Lobar WML volumes, regional frontal cortical volumes, depressive symptom severity, and cognitive abilities were measured. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to identify WML volume effects on frontal cortical volume. Structural equation modeling was used to determine the MRI-depression and the MRI-cognition path relationships.

Results

WML predicted frontal cortical volume, particularly in medial orbirtofrontal cortex, irrespective of age, gender, education, and group status. WML directly predicted depressive score, and this relationship was not mediated by regional frontal cortices. In contrast, the association between WML and cognitive function was indirect and mediated by regional frontal cortices.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that the neurobiological mechanisms underpinning depressive symptoms and cognitive dysfunction in older adults may differ.

Objective

Alcohol and drug use and related problems may compromise depression treatment, and older adults may be especially at risk for poor outcomes. However, alcohol and drug use among older adults have not been studied in settings in which depression treatment is provided. This study examined the prevalence and clinical and demographic correlates of alcohol and drug use and misuse of prescription drugs among adults with depression seeking outpatient psychiatric care (excluding chemical dependency treatment).

Methods

The sample included 154 older adults (age 60 years and older who scored ≥10 on the Beck Depression Inventory-II [BDI-II] at intake). Participants also completed alcohol and drug use questions and the Short Michigan Alcohol Screening Test.

Results

Recent alcohol and drug use, heavy episodic drinking, and history of alcohol-related problems were common. Alcohol use in the prior 30 days was reported by 53% of men and 50% of women. Cannabis use in the prior 30 days was reported by 12% of men and 4% of women; and misuse of sedatives in the prior 30 days was reported by 16% of men and 9% of women. In exact logistic regression, higher BDI-II score was associated with cannabis use (odds ratio = 15.8, 95% confidence interval = 2.0-734.0, exact p = 0.003).

Conclusions

Older adults with depression are likely to present for treatment with a range of concurrent alcohol and drug use patterns, including cannabis use and misuse of prescription medication. Clinicians should evaluate depressed patients for substance use and related problems and consider appropriate interventions.

Context

Older patients with depression and executive dysfunction represent a population with significant disability and high likelihood of failing pharmacotherapy.

Objective

To examine whether Problem Solving Therapy (PST) reduces disability more than Supportive Therapy (ST) in older patients with depression and executive dysfunction, and whether this effect is mediated by improvement in depressive symptoms.

Design

Randomized controlled trail, with participant recruitment from 12/02-11/07 and follow-up for 36 weeks.

Setting

Weill Cornell and University of California, San Francisco.

Participants

Adults (>59 years) with major depression and executive dysfunction.

Intervention

12 sessions of either PST modified for older depressed adults with executive impairment, or ST.

Main Outcome Measure

Disability as quantified by the World Health Organization Assessment Schedule II (WHODAS II)-12 item form.

Results

653 individuals were referred to this study, 221 of whom met criteria and were randomized to PST or ST. PST and ST led to comparable improvement of disability in the first 6 weeks of treatment, but a more prominent reduction in PST participants at weeks 9 and 12. The difference between PST and ST was greater in patients with greater cognitive impairment and higher number of previous episodes. Reduction in disability paralleled reduction in depressive symptoms. The therapeutic advantage of PST over ST in reducing depression was in part due to greater reduction of disability by PST. While disability increased during the 24 weeks following the end of treatment, the advantage of PST over ST-treated patients was retained.

Conclusions

This study suggests that PST is more effective than ST in reducing disability in older patients with major depression and executive dysfunction, and its benefits were retained after the end of treatment. The clinical value of this finding is that PST may be a treatment alternative in an older patient population likely to be resistant to pharmacotherapy.

The pathophysiology of negative affect states in older adults is complex, and a host of central nervous system and peripheral systemic mechanisms may play primary or contributing roles. We conducted an unbiased analysis of 146 plasma analytes in a multiplex biochemical biomarker study in relation to number of depressive symptoms endorsed by 566 participants in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) at their baseline and 1-year assessments. Analytes that were most highly associated with depressive symptoms included hepatocyte growth factor, insulin polypeptides, pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A and vascular endothelial growth factor. Separate regression models assessed contributions of past history of psychiatric illness, antidepressant or other psychotropic medicine, apolipoprotein E genotype, body mass index, serum glucose and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) τ and amyloid levels, and none of these values significantly attenuated the main effects of the candidate analyte levels for depressive symptoms score. Ensemble machine learning with Random Forests found good accuracy (∼80%) in classifying groups with and without depressive symptoms. These data begin to identify biochemical biomarkers of depressive symptoms in older adults that may be useful in investigations of pathophysiological mechanisms of depression in aging and neurodegenerative dementias and as targets of novel treatment approaches.

The present investigation reports on the use of problem solving therapy (PST) to treat depression in an 83-year-old woman with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and concurrent mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A neuropsychological evaluation was conducted prior to the intervention and the patient demonstrated mild deficits of executive functioning and memory. The PST treatment consisted of 12 one-hour sessions that occurred weekly. Depressive symptoms were evaluated using the Hamilton Depression Rating scale and the Montgomery-Asberg Depression rating scale. At a post-treatment assessment (week 12), clinician assessment indicated that the client no longer met criteria for MDD. Weekly depression severity ratings showed significant reduction in severity of depressive symptoms over 12 weeks. Results at 1-month and 6-month follow-up demonstrated that the therapeutic gains were not only maintained, but that the client continued to improve. These results suggest that PST may be an effective treatment for the treatment of depression for individuals with a PD and concurrent MCI.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to compare the relative effectiveness of several different strategies for recruiting elderly Asians, African Americans, and Caucasians to participate in mental health research.

Participants

A total of 35 African American, 24 Asian American, and 215 Caucasian participants were phone-screened for potential enrollment into a University of California, San Francisco Department of Psychiatry treatment outcome study for older adults (60+ years of age) with major depression and mild cognitive impairment.

Design

The methods by which participants were recruited were recorded, coded into composite categories, and statistically analyzed to determine whether certain recruitment strategies were disproportionately effective for recruiting participants from the three racial groups.

Results

Fisher's exact test analyses revealed that Asians and African Americans were significantly less likely than Caucasians to be recruited through mental health-based methods, and African Americans were significantly more likely than Caucasians and Asians to be recruited via referrals rather than solicitations. Logistic regression, which controlled for potential confounds, largely supported these findings.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that the recruitment of elderly African or Asian Americans into mental health treatment outcome research can be facilitated by a flexible consumer-oriented strategy that integrates multiple recruitment methods. Establishing study credibility through non-mental health media and professional referral sources may be especially effective in engaging the participation of elderly Asian Americans; and cultivating ongoing relationships with key gatekeepers, who can observe benefits to the community, may be particularly effective in recruiting elderly African Americans.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to determine whether problem-solving therapy is an effective treatment in older patients with depression and executive dysfunction, a population likely to be resistant to antidepressant drugs.

Method

Participants were adults age 60 and older with major depression and executive dysfunction. Problem-solving therapy was modified to be accessible to this population. Participants were randomly assigned to 12 weekly sessions of problem-solving therapy or supportive therapy and assessed at weeks 3, 6, 9, and 12.

Results

Of the 653 individuals referred for this study, 221 met selection criteria and were enrolled in the study. Reduction of depressive symptom severity was comparable for the two treatment groups during the first 6 weeks of treatment, but at weeks 9 and 12 the problem-solving therapy group had a greater reduction in symptom severity, a greater response rate, and a greater remission rate than the supportive therapy group (response rates at week 9: 47.1% and 29.3%; at week 12: 56.7% and 34.0%; remission rates at week 9: 37.9% and 21.7%; at week 12: 45.6% and 27.8%). Problem-solving therapy yielded one additional response or remission over supportive therapy for every 4.4–5.6 patients by the end of the trial.

Conclusions

These results suggest that problem-solving therapy is effective in reducing depressive symptoms and leading to treatment response and remission in a considerable number of older patients with major depression and executive dysfunction. The clinical value of this finding is that problem-solving therapy may be a treatment alternative in an older patient population likely to be resistant to pharmacotherapy.