Longitudinal Cognitive Profiles by Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in American Older Adults With Subjective Cognitive Decline.

The study is observational, so it cannot show that anxiety or depression caused the cognitive changes. The sample was mostly White (84.2%) and Hispanic participants were 5.4%, with mean education 15.9±2.8 years, so results may not apply to the broader U.S. older adult population. Most anxiety symptoms were mild (75.5%) or moderate (21.1%), and most depressive symptoms were mild (75.1%) or moderate (23.1%), so severe symptoms were too few to study separately. Medication use was not included as a covariate, even though medications may affect mood or cognition. Sensitivity analyses were not entirely consistent: global cognition was null in the main model but showed lower baseline scores in the trimmed analysis, and combined anxiety and depression showed different patterns across domains. Follow-up averaged 4.1±2.4 years, and the authors note that anxiety effects might require longer observation.

The supplied text does not report author conflicts of interest. The article is tagged as NIH extramural research support.

Do not read the extra 0.013-point yearly decline on a 0-to-2 episodic memory composite as proof that depression causes cognitive decline or that treating depression will slow it. The study was observational, the symptoms were mostly mild, and sensitivity analyses changed other results.