Unraveling the link between depression and dementia to improve diagnostic and treatment options.

Neuropsychiatric diseases are a leading cause of disability worldwide, with numbers expected to increase dramatically in the coming decades, mainly due to aging populations - as age is the main risk factor (1). In the age category of 60+, 15% has a neuropsychiatric disorder. The number of people in this age group is expected to double by 2050 (2) . Depression affects about 1-5% of the general elderly population, and 13.5% of elderly who require home healthcare (3).
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative brain disorder that causes dementia. Despite substantial progress in AD research during the past decade, this devastating disorder is currently still incurable. The concept and the definition of AD has changed, however, acknowledging that AD is a continuum with a long preclinical phase (that includes subjective cognitive decline, SCD), a stage of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and a dementia phase (4). The preclinical phase offers unique opportunities for prevention of AD through early detection of AD pathology and pharmacological treatment with disease modifying drugs that are in development.