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A slowing
of the speed of blood flow in the main arteries of the brain,
caused by something other than arterial disease, appears linked
to depression in older adults, according to European researchers.
Hardened
and thickened arteries do not explain the link between reduced
blood flow velocity and depression, the researchers reported
in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
Researchers
assessed 2,093 people over age 55 from a suburb of Rotterdam
in Holland. The participants were interviewed using a questionnaire
designed to detect symptoms of depression. Each participant
had his or her brain scanned using Doppler ultrasonography
to measure the speed of blood flow and arterial responsiveness
to a carbon dioxide inhalation test.
A total
of 116 people had symptoms of depression, forty of whom had
confirmed clinical depression. Some 59 were just below the
threshold of depression.
Participants
with depressive symptoms had both a significantly reduced
blood flow velocity and reduced arterial responsiveness compared
with participants without symptoms of depression. Participants
with clinical depression had significantly reduced blood flow
velocity and those just below the threshold of depression
also had a poorer arterial responsiveness than those who were
mentally healthy.
Although
there were more participants with hardened and narrowed arteries
in the group with symptoms of depression or on the threshold
of depression, researchers said the link between blood flow
velocity and arterial responsiveness was not explained by
arterial disease.
Impaired
vascular function in the brain may cause depressive symptoms
in later life, concluded the researchers.
Source:
Depression Week
of June 30, 2002
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