Table 4.

Impact of depressive symptoms at baseline (GDS-15 score) on cognitive decline from age 85 to 89 years in 415 people living in the community without cognitive impairment at baseline (MMSE score ≥24 points). Impact is additional annual impact on cognitive function per SD of mean GDS-15 score at baseline (2.11)

Cognitive function test	Additional annual impact on cognitive function score (SE)	P value
Global cognitive function	−0.01 (0.04)	0.79
Attention	−0.49 (0.38)	0.20
Processing speed	−0.09 (0.06)	0.14
Immediate recall	−0.08 (0.07)	0.21
Delayed recall	0.001 (0.03)	0.97

Associations were assessed by separate linear mixed models adjusted for sex and educational level. All measures of cognitive function showed highly significant decline over time (P<0.001).

GDS-15=15 item geriatric depression scale.

MMSE=mini-mental state examination.