People with a history of the disease are more likely to exhibit analytical impairment and among older persons it also triggers cognitive decline

Long-term depression is linked to brain ageing and impaired cognitive function, and doctors recommend that individuals who suffer from depression be treated to “lower the risk of cognitive decline” and brain ageing later in life.

According to a research published in the Journal of Affective Disorders in January titled “Long-term depression symptoms and midlife brain age,” elevated depressive symptoms in early adulthood may have implications for brain health as early as midlife.

The researchers followed 649 adults aged 23-36 for 25 years in the US with brain MRI and cognitive testing measuring long term depressive symptoms at the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CESD).

The evidence so gathered suggests that depression may be a risk factor for dementia in older adults, but the link between depressive symptoms and brain health earlier in life is less understood.

“Our aim was to investigate the association between long-term depressive symptoms in young to mid-adulthood and a measure of brain age derived from structural MRI,” the researchers explained.

They said the study was aimed at investigating whether depressive symptoms from young to mid-adulthood are associated with brain age by following a large cohort of participants with repeated depressive symptom assessments from early adulthood to middle age across 25 years.

“This insight will be pivotal to understanding the role of depression in age-related brain differences,” the researchers claimed.

People with a history of depression are also more likely to exhibit analytical impairment and among older persons, the disease is associated with cognitive decline.

Neuroimaging studies have also suggested brain abnormalities prevalent in patients with depression. Additionally, studies have found a significant overlap between the biological pathways related to depression and those that accompany the aging process, suggesting that depressive disorders likely contribute to accelerated brain aging.