EFFECT OF DONEPEZIL ON THE CONTINUUM OF DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS, MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT, AND PROGRESSION TO DEMENTIA

A recent 3-year, longitudinal clinical trial study suggested that depressive symptoms were predictive of progression from amnestic MCI (aMCI) to AD. 3 Furthermore, this study demonstrated that donepezil treatment delayed the progression to AD in subjects with depression without affecting symptoms of depression. 3 These findings suggested that late-life depressive syndromes or symptoms may be early manifestations of dementing disorders and that depressive symptoms might be included in MCI diagnostic criteria. 4 Subjects may have depressive symptoms related to cognitive impairment or to the underlying process. Depressive symptoms may be high in patients with MCI who remain dementia-free and in patients with MCI who progress to dementia or AD. In the first group of subjects, MCI could be related to an underlying psychiatric disorder, and in the second group, MCI and depression may be associated with neurodegeneration. 4 Recently, in the Italian Longitudinal