Depression in small-vessel disease relates to white matter ultrastructural damage, not disability.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To determine whether cerebral small-vessel disease (SVD) is a specific risk factor for depression, whether any association is mediated via white matter damage, and to study the role of depressive symptoms and disability on quality of life (QoL) in this patient group.

Methods

Using path analyses in cross-sectional data, we modeled the relationships among depression, disability, and QoL in patients with SVD presenting with radiologically confirmed lacunar stroke (n = 100), and replicated results in a second SVD cohort (n = 100). We then compared the same model in a non-SVD stroke cohort (n = 50) and healthy older adults (n = 203). In a further study, to determine the role of white matter damage in mediating the association with depression, a subgroup of patients with

SUBMITTER: Brookes RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4206159 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature