Depression News:

Mildly Depressed Older Women Outlive Those Who Are Not Depressed

Older women who are mildly depressed are likely to live longer than women who are not depressed or are severely depressed, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

"When we looked at men, we didn't see any effect on mortality, but when we looked at women, we saw what appears to be a striking, protective effect from this form of depression," Dr. Dan G. Blazer, professor of psychiatry and behavioral science, reported in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Researchers examined data on depression and mortality taken from Duke's Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly. They interviewed 4,162 adults, ages 65 and older, at three-year intervals to assess their health status, focusing on those who showed six to eight symptoms of depression -- not enough to qualify as clinical depression but enough to show mild "subthreshold" depression. All of the adults lived in a community setting.

The investigators speculate that mild depression in older women could reflect a healthy coping mechanism linked with longevity and not a risk factor for early death, which has been seen in people with more severe depression.

"It is possible that subthreshold depression, a less severe depressed mood, in elderly women is not damaging but is, rather, a biological or psychological response to protect women from future risk," concluded the study.

"Why we're seeing the effect occurring in elderly women and not elderly men is something we don't know, but we find our results quite interesting," said Blazer. "Though they are preliminary, they make sense when one sees this type of depression as a form of adaptive behavior."

Source: Depression Week of May 12, 2002