Alzheimer’s disease

Depression May Lead to Faster Cognitive Decline among Black, Latino Adults 

The findings suggest that Black and Latino adults are more susceptible to the negative effects of depressive symptoms later in life, even if they experience these symptoms less often than White adults.

Although multiple studies have linked depression to cognitive decline, there remains a gap in knowledge in the different ways depression affects cognition, and whether this association differs across racial/ethnic groups. 

A study led by researchers at the School of Public Health found that depressive symptoms were associated with worse cognition among all racial/ethnic groups, but were particularly harmful among Black and Latino older adults.

Published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, the results showed that depression spurred faster cognitive decline among Black and Latino older adults. Associations between depression and cognitive decline were especially significant for Latino individuals—at several times the magnitude than in White individuals. These declines were less apparent among both Asian and White older adults.

“As there are no cures for dementia, and because dementia is a long-term disease, it is important to identify risk factors earlier in the life course that can be intervened to slow down cognitive decline later in life,” says study lead and corresponding author Marcia Pescador Jimenez, assistant professor of epidemiology. “Our study suggests that treating depressive symptoms, particularly among Black and Latino older adults could delay cognitive decline.” 

For the study, Pescador Jimenez and colleagues utilized data on cognition and depressive symptoms among 2,227 Asian, Black, Latino, or White adults ages 50 and older who completed up to three cognitive assessments over a four-year period. 

Among all participants, depressive symptoms were associated with worse scores in executive function—skills that enable people to manage planning, organization, time management, self-control, and other fundamental functions—as well as semantic memory (the capacity to recall words and concepts).

Higher depressive symptoms were also linked to lower scores in verbal episodic memory (memory of events and experiences), among Black and Latino participants, but not among Asian or White participants. The decline was especially high among Black participants. 

“It is very encouraging to see research on dementia broadening to evaluate important factors for Asian, Black, and Latino older adults alongside White adults,” says study senior author Maria Glymour, chair and professor of epidemiology. “This is a critical step forward to reduce risk of dementia for all adults.”

Consistent with prior research, Asian and Black adults had lower scores of depressive symptoms at baseline than their Latino and White counterparts. The fact that Black adults showed lower scores of depression but higher rates of cognitive decline could reflect racial disparities in healthcare access, which may affect how depression is diagnosed and treated among Black patients, the researchers note. 

“We know through the ‘Minority Stress Theory’ that exposure to racial discrimination and acculturative stress constitutes a hostile psychological environment leading to negative health consequences,” Pescador Jimenez says. “Based on this, we were interested in the different experience of depressive symptoms by race and ethnicity and how this difference could be associated with cognitive health. For our next steps, we aim to examine how the effects of individual factors, such as depression, are potentially shaped by environment conditions that may be especially important for Black and Latino adults living in communities affected by unequal opportunities due to decades of systemic racism.”

The study was coauthored by researchers at SPH, Kaiser Permanente, Columbia University, the University of California Irvine School of Medicine, and the University of California, Davis.