Jun 12 2024American Academy of Neurology People who experience prolonged depressive symptoms starting in young adulthood may have worse thinking and memory skills in middle age, according to a study published in the June 12, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study also found that depressive symptoms were experienced more often by Black adults than white adults.
Researchers divided participants into four groups based on the progression of their symptoms over time: persistently low symptoms, medium decreasing, persistently medium or high increasing symptoms. There was a higher proportion of Black participants, 52%, in the persistently medium group, as well as the high increasing depressive symptoms group with 70%.
Related StoriesAfter adjusting for factors such as age, physical activity and total cholesterol, among Black participants, those in the high symptom group had an average score that was 0.64 standard deviations below the average score for the low symptom group. Among white participants, those in the high symptom group had an average score that was 0.40 standard deviations below the average score for the low symptom group.