Stratifying Risk for Cognitive Decline in Older Adult Populations using the Geriatric Depression Scale.

Objectives: Late-life psychological symptoms in older adults such as depression and apathy have been increasingly associated with increased risk of cognitive and functional decline. The goal of this study was to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), pooling 3 unique cohorts of older adults to 1) develop a novel measurement model that distinguishes apathy from other domains of depression including dysphoria and cognitive concern and 2) evaluate if the measurement model distinguishes older adult populations with varied risk for cognitive decline.

Methods: We pooled the baseline waves of three older adult cohorts (N=1421).