Association of depressive symptoms with impaired episodic memory in patients with Parkinson's disease

ABSTRACT

Objective:

To evaluate the correlation of depressive symptoms and impaired episodic memory in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods:

This is a cross-sectional, non-probabilistic and intentional study. Individuals diagnosed with PD and aged 60 years or older, who were enrolled at two movement disorders outpatient clinics in the city of Maceió, AL, were selected. 62 elderly people were selected, divided into two groups, 40 with symptoms of depression and 22 without symptoms of depression. A sociodemographic questionnaire, Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15 reduced version), the Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were used.

Results:

In view of the sample of 62 elderly people, there was a high prevalence of female elderly, 64.5% with a mean age of 66.72 years (±5.12). Regarding sociodemographic data, a statistically significant difference was identified between groups only in the use of antidepressants (p < 0.001) and in relation to clinical characteristics, there was a difference in relation to episodic memory (RAVLT) (p < 0.001) of MoCA (p = 0.018) and in the abstraction (p = 0.044) and executive function (p = 0.021) domains of MoCA. Regarding the relationship between depressive symptoms and impaired episodic memory, a moderate inverse correlation was identified (r = −0.575; p < 0.001).

Conclusion:

PD associated with depressive symptoms presents impairments in episodic memory when compared to those without symptoms. In addition, it is possible to identify that the levels of depressive symptoms are directly proportional to the loss of episodic memory.

Keywords
Depressive symptoms; episodic memory; Parkinson disease