Background: A persistent course of depression has been described in subjects with and without dementia. Up to the present it is unclear to what extent dementia affects the prognosis of depression.
Method: At baseline and at 6 and 12 months follow-up AGECAT depression diagnoses were made in 49 subjects with and 72 subjects without DSM-III-R dementia living in homes for the elderly.
Results: Adjusting for demographic characteristics and physical health, dementia was not associated with the severity of depression at follow up. The baseline depression severity and to a lesser extent somatic complaints predicted a bad prognosis of depression in the total sample.
Limitations: Because of the high vulnerability of the residents the results cannot be generalised to other populations of elderly subjects.
Conclusion: Depression is persistent in residents of homes for the elderly. Dementia does not affect its course.