Cerebral emboli and depressive symptoms in dementia.

Background: The vascular depression hypothesis and our recent findings of increased frequency of spontaneous cerebral emboli in dementia suggest that such emboli may be involved in the causation of depressive symptoms in dementia.

Aims: To evaluate the association between spontaneous cerebral emboli and depressive symptoms in Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.

Method: In a cohort of 142 patients with dementia (72 with Alzheimer's disease and 70 with vascular dementia), the association between spontaneous cerebral emboli and clinically relevant depressive symptoms was examined using multiple logistic regression analyses.

Results: Spontaneous cerebral emboli were significantly more frequent in the patients with clinically relevant depressive symptoms (66 v. 37%, P=0.03). After adjustment for age, gender, Mini-Mental State Examination score, type of dementia and significant cardiovascular risk factors, the relationship remained significant (OR=3.47, 95% CI 1.10-10.97).

Conclusions: Spontaneous cerebral emboli are associated with clinically relevant depressive symptoms in dementia, and further research is needed to explore the nature of this relationship.