Association of Late Life Depression, (Non-) Modifiable Risk and Protective Factors with Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease: Literature Review on Current Evidences, Preventive Interventions and Possible Future Trends in Prevention and Treatment of Dementia

Abstract

The number of people living with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is growing rapidly, making dementia one of the biggest challenges for this century. Many studies have indicated that depression plays an important role in development of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease; depression, especially, during the late life may either increase the risk of dementia or even being its prodromal stage. Despite a notably large number of carried observational studies and/or clinical trials, the association between the late life depression and dementia remains, due to the complexity of their relationship, still unclear. Moreover, during past two decades multiple other (non-)modifiable risk and possibly protective factors such as the hypertension, social engagement, obesity, level of education or physical (in)activity have been identified and their relationship with the risk for development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease has been extensively studied. It has been proposed that to understand mechanisms of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease pathogeneses require their multifactorial nature represented by these multiple factors to be considered. In this review, we first summarize the recent literature findings on roles of the late life depression and the other known (non-)modifiable risk and possibly protective factors in development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Then, we provide evidences supporting hypotheses that (i) depressive syndromes in late life may indicate the prodromal stage of dementia (Alzheimer’s disease) and, (ii) the interplay among the multiple (non-)modifiable risk and protective factors should be considered to gain a better understanding of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease pathogeneses. We also discuss the evidences of recently established interventions considered to prevent or delay the prodromes of dementia and provide the prospective future directions in prevention and treatment of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease using both the single-domain and multidomain interventions.

Association Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Its Treatment, and Alzheimer's Disease: Systematic Mini-Review

“…The main findings of the considered studies are, for reader's convenience, summarized in Table 1. It has been already demonstrated by several studies (Bubu et al, 2020;Kuo et al, 2020) that OSA may induce an alteration in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) β-amyloid, particularly Aβ 40 and Aβ 42 and T-tau and/or P-tau protein levels, which are also the known pathological hallmarks of AD. Intermittent hypoxia and sleep fragmentation, that is, the common OSA processes, have been identified as the fundamental processes that can generate neurodegenerative changes.…”

“…Life expectancy has notably increased in past century, but this brings new challenges to public health, as elderly individuals are more vulnerable to cardiovascular diseases, depression, AD, and OSA (Kuo et al, 2020). In this mini-review, we first assess if OSA may be associated with AD, and then we discuss recent studies on the effect of OSA treatment for improving cognition in AD patients.…”

“…Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that deteriorates cognitive abilities, negatively impacting the ability for the individual to carry out the simplest of tasks and, consequently, disrupts day-to-day life functions (Kuo et al, 2020). Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia and accounts for more than 60% of dementia cases (Kalaria et al, 2008).…”

Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s Disease

“…AD is a chronic devastating neurodegenerative disorder in which increasing age is the strongest non-modifiable disease risk factor [ 36 , 37 ]. There are currently no effective therapies for AD [ 38 , 39 ].…”

Influence of Pathogenic and Metabolic Genes on the Pharmacogenetics of Mood Disorders in Alzheimer’s Disease

“…The mechanisms underlying depression in dementia remain unclarified [ 56 ]. Genetic and environmental factors are potentially involved [ 44 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ]. For instance, an increase in depression and anxiety symptoms have been reported in nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic [ 63 ].…”