Impact of chronic systemic and neurological disorders on disability, depression and life satisfaction

Depression comorbidity in spinocerebellar ataxia

“…The hypothesis is not supported by the finding that the prevalence falls within the range of comorbid depression seen in various other disorders, and in addition we have seen a similar sex difference and symptom profile as in major depressive disorders. In multiple sclerosis patients, depression has been found to be unrelated both to the degree of ataxia34 and to structural abnormalities of the cerebellum10; in geriatric patients comorbid depression seemed merely related to the degree of disability, irrespective of the causative medical condition,35 and others have speculated that mood disturbance in SCA3 is associated with resultant physical incapacity rather than with neurodegeneration itself 21. The results of our study with more severe neurological symptoms—both ataxia and nonataxia—in depressed SCA patients may also be interpreted that way.…”

Cognitive, Extrapyramidal, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Predictors of Functional Impairment in Nondemented Older Community Dwellers: The Sydney Older Person Study

“…These findings highlight the suggestion that, in older persons, a multifactorial approach to outcomes is crucial 47 . In a previous report on an earlier phase of this study, the effect of chronic systemic and neurological disorders on functional decline and life satisfaction was evaluated 12 . It was found that many of the physical disorders had a significant effect on disability and quality of life.…”

“…This association has been reported in unselected older populations 8 and in clinically defined groups with MCI 10 . Population‐based studies of aging have found extrapyramidal (EP) signs, 11 depression, 11–13 and executive or visuospatial deficits 8,14,15 to be associated with functional impairment. One study of MCI groups 10 found impairments in IADLs, as well as other “higher order” or “advanced” activities such as preparing tax records and writing checks, and another identified mild impairments in capacity to manage their finances 16 …”

Depression and frailty in later life: a synthetic review

“…Three studies incorporated objective measures of physical performance (e.g., chair stands, grip strength) (Newsom and Schulz, ; Deshpande et al , ; Hajjar et al , ). Two‐thirds (10 of 16) of studies used the Centers for Epidemiologic Studies—Depression (CES‐D) scale to index depressive symptomatology (Mirowsky and Ross, ; Davidson et al , ; Newsom and Schulz, ; Broe et al , ; Hybels et al , ; Cummings et al , ; Jang et al , ; Deshpande et al , ; Hajjar et al , ; Chen et al , ). No studies that met the inclusion criteria used diagnostic instruments.…”