Treating depression slows seniors' physical decline

Effectively treating depression in older adults using a collaborative care management approach improves physical function, researchers report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Dr. Christopher M. Callahan, of Indiana University Center for Aging Research, Indianapolis, and colleagues randomly assigned 1,801 subjects, at least 60 years of age, who were diagnosed with major depressive disorder to an intervention group or to a usual care (control) group. Overall, 45 percent of subjects rated their health as fair or poor.

Patients in the control group had access to all health services available as part of usual care. Those in the intervention group additionally had access to a depression clinical specialist for 12 months. Depression care was coordinated with the patients' primary care physicians.

A substantial improvement in depression - at least 50 percent reduction in depressive symptoms - was observed in 45 percent of the intervention patients. The corresponding proportion in control patients was 19 percent.

At 12 months, intervention patients were also significantly less likely to rate their health as fair or poor than were control patients (37 percent versus 52 percent).

In both treatment groups, the team found that patients whose depression improved were significantly more likely to experience improvements in physical functioning.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatric Society, March 2005.