Narrator: This is Science Today. Sudden depression in older
adults could be a sign of cognitive impairment, which could lead
to dementia. Those were the findings of a ten year study led by
the University of California , San Francisco . Psychiatry
professor Deborah Barnes explains. Barnes: What we found was
that in older adults who didn't have any type of cognitive
impairment at the beginning of the study, those older adults who
had some depressive symptoms at the beginning were more likely
to develop cognitive impairment over time. Narrator: The results
showed that after six years, older adults who had strong
symptoms of depression were twice as likely to develop mild
cognitive impairment. Barnes: The older adults who had some high
depressive symptoms at the beginning of the study, about 20% of
them developed cognitive problems during follow-up, compared to
only 10% in the group of older adults that didn't have any
depressive symptoms in the beginning. Narrator: Half of the
patients who develop mild cognitive