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Eleven percent (N = 25) of 232 dementia patients seen in an active geropsychiatry service also met criteria for major depression. Ten patients with dementia/depression were prospectively compared with 10 non-depressed demented and 33 nondemented depressed patients on pretreatment and posttreatment ratings of depression and cognition/memory. Seventy percent (N = 7) of the dementia/depression group and 73% (N = 24) of the depression-only group responded to antidepressant therapy. Signs and symptoms of depression complicating dementia were similar to depressive phenomena in the depression-only group. Depression with dementia appeared to lower performance on cognitive tests. Following treatment, although cognitive impairment remained in the demented range, test performance improved.
Greenwald et al. (Wed,) studied this question.