The role of cognitive reserve in depressed older adults

 
   Lead Investigator:    Deirdre O'Shea
   Institution      :    Columbia University
   E-Mail           :    dmo2123@cumc.columbia.edu
   Proposal ID      :    532



   Proposal Description:
   The goal of the study is to examine whether cognitive reserve (as measured by education and IQ), would moderate the association between depression and core aspects of cognition. There is a paucity of research studies examining this topic and the results that do exists are mixed (e.g., Lee et al. 2007 Becker et al. 2002). Such mixed results may be explained by either insufficient sample sizes or insufficient measures of cognition or both. The National Alzheimer???s                                                                                                                                                                     Coordinating center data would provide sufficient cognitive data as well as a large sample size to carry out our proposed study. Based on previous research, which have related depression in late life to       structural changes in the brain (Geerlings et al. 2012), we propose that cognitive reserve would be a well-placed moderating construct in the association between depression and cognitive outcomes. We would expect that higher cognitive reserve would moderate the effect of depression on cognition.    Not only would the results shed light on the varying association of depression on cognition in the literature but the results of our study would also have implications for clinical assessment and intervention a greater appreciation of how levels of education may impact severity of cognitive impairment in depressed older adults.                                                           Aims                                                                              1) Using the construct of cognitive reserve as a moderating variable in the association between clinical depression and cognition may shed light on those who are most vulnerable to cognitive impairments                                  2) This is based on a previous study of ours (O???Shea et al. 2014) which looked at how cognitive reserve moderated the association between depressive S