Journal of International Psychiatry

【Abstract】Objective To study the correlation between cognitive impairment and risk of depression in senile dementia patients.Methods 80 elderly patients with dementia were included in the study. The cognitive function status and depression level were recorded by the montreal cognitive assessment scale (MoCA) and the hamilton depression scale (HAMD), the relationship between the degree of cognitive impairment and depression was analyzed.Results The HAMD scores of 80 patients were (25.78 ± 8.62) points, the scores ≥ 20 points were 31 cases (38.75%).The MoCA scores were (20.05 ± 7.62),the scores over 26 points were 17 cases (normal group).There were 63 cases with the scores over 26 points,38 cases were light, 17 cases were moderate, 8 cases were severe.There were no significant difference in gender, age, education level and the HDS score among patients with different degrees of cognitive impairment (P > 0.05).There was statistically significant difference of HAMD scores between the four groups (P < 0.05).There was significant negative correlation between MoCA and HAMD score (r = -0.581, P = 0.000).The results of ROC analysis showed that the AUC was 0.756 (β = 0.057, 95%CL = 0.643-0.868, P = 0.000),the sensitivity was 0.710 and the specificity was 0.796,the best truncation value was 22.5 points.Conclusion There was closely relevance between cognitive impairment and depression in patients with senile dementia. The MoCA score can help to predict the occurrence of depression.

【Key words】Senile dementia;Cognitive impairment; Depression