It is now online the review: Relationship Between Depression and Neurodegeneration: Risk Factor, Prodrome, Consequence, or Something Else? A Scoping Review by Dario Papa, Alessandro Ingenito, Alessandro von Gal, Maria Francesca De Pandis, and Laura Piccardi, published in Biomedicine.

This article seeks to investigate the unclear link between depression and neurodegeneration. A huge debate exists whether depression is a risk factor, a prodrome, a consequence, or unrelated. This review examines these possibilities to clarify their connection, focusing primarily on Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and other highly comorbid neurodegenerative diseases. The studies included in this review focused on neurodegenerative diseases with high comorbidity with depression, published in peer-reviewed English-language journals, providing empirical evidence on the link between the two conditions or theoretical frameworks that point to other studies. Non-human studies and those irrelevant to this connection were excluded. Source of evidence: AI-supported tools identified relevant articles. Most studies suggest depression may contribute to neurodegeneration, but clinical, neuroimaging, and longitudinal evidence also support its role as a prodrome or consequence, indicating a bidirectional relationship. Despite extensive research, the connection remains unclear, highlighting the need for further investigation into underlying mechanisms and interdependencies, focusing on longitudinal studies by examining causality.

Relationship Between Depression and Neurodegeneration: Risk Factor, Prodrome, Consequence, or Something Else? A Scoping Review: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/13/5/1023