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Current Understanding of the Neurobiology and Longitudinal Course of Geriatric Depression

  • Geriatric Disorders (W McDonald, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Late life depression is a complex disease associated with a number of contributing neurobiological factors, including cerebrovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and inflammation, which also contribute to its longitudinal prognosis and course. These factors create a context in which the brain is more vulnerable to the impact of stress, and thus, to depression. At the same time, some individuals are protected from late life depression and its consequences, even in the face of neurobiological vulnerability, through benefitting from one or more attributes associated with resilience, including social support, engagement in physical and cognitive activities, and brain reserve. Enhanced understanding of how neurobiological and environmental factors interact in predicting vulnerability and resilience is needed to predict onset and course of depression in late life and develop more effective interventions.

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Anand Kumar declares no conflict of interest.

Sara L. Weisenbach has received a grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs (Career Development Award)

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1747 W. Roosevelt Rd., Suite 155, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA

    Sara L. Weisenbach & Anand Kumar

  2. Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Research & Development Program, Chicago, IL, USA

    Sara L. Weisenbach

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  1. Sara L. Weisenbach
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  2. Anand Kumar
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Correspondence to Sara L. Weisenbach.

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Support for this work comes from a Level-2 Career Development Award from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Rehabilitation Research & Development to SLW.

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Geriatric Disorders

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Weisenbach, S.L., Kumar, A. Current Understanding of the Neurobiology and Longitudinal Course of Geriatric Depression. Curr Psychiatry Rep 16, 463 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-014-0463-y

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