Groundbreaking research at the Australian National University has revealed that depressed people may be more at risk of developing dementia.
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Neuroscientist Daniela Espinoza Oyarce discovered that the brains of depressed people shrink and that this shrinkage indicates that Alzheimer's disease and dementia may be on the way.
She doesn't know why the two are linked only that there is now evidence that they are.
She thinks that the revelation may be useful in preventing depressed people from developing dementia later in life.
It's not the whole brain which gets smaller in depressed people just the part called the "hippocampus" which is the part linked to memory and the ability to learn.
But people who suffer depression accompanied by anxiety have brains which are not so shrunken, according to the ANU study involving 10,000 cases published in The Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience.
The researcher doesn't know the exact cause of the shrinkage and why the brains of anxious depressives don't reduce in size as much as those who aren't anxious, only that there is evidence of a link between depression and dementia.
Depression is the most debilitating disorder worldwide. One-in-six Australians currently experience depression, anxiety, or both, according to Ms Espinoza Oyarce.
"We found people who have depression alone have lower brain volumes in many areas of the brain, and in particular the hippocampus," Ms Espinoza Oyarce said.
"This becomes even more relevant later in life because a smaller hippocampus is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and may accelerate the development of dementia."
Ms Espinoza Oyarce says that the increased risk of dementia amongst depressed people should be recognized so that sufferers can be treated, perhaps with drugs. Recognizing a problem is key to dealing with it.