(Getty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThose who were not satisfied with the way tasks are carried out had a 33 per cent increased risk of dementia more than 20 years later, while those who reported difficulties concentrating had a 29 per cent elevated risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cA distinct set of midlife depressive symptoms was associated with an increased risk of dementia, suggesting that these symptoms might be early markers of underlying neurodegenerative processes,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n
Lead author of the study, Dr Philipp Frank, from the UCL Division of Psychiatry, said: \u201cOur findings show that dementia risk is linked to a handful of depressive symptoms rather than depression as a whole.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis symptom-level approach gives us a much clearer picture of who may be more vulnerable decades before dementia develops.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryday symptoms that many people experience in midlife appear to carry important information about long-term brain health.<\/p>\n
\u201cPaying attention to these patterns could open new opportunities for early prevention.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Mika Kivimaki, from the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences, who leads the Whitehall II study and co-authored the paper, said: \u201cDepression doesn\u2019t have a single shape \u2014 symptoms vary widely and often overlap with anxiety.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found that these nuanced patterns can reveal who is at higher risk of developing neurological disorders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commenting on the paper, Dr Richard Oakley, associate director of research and innovation at Alzheimer\u2019s Society, said: \u201cThe connection between dementia and depression is complicated. It\u2019s encouraging to see this new observational study begin to unpick how dementia and depression are interlinked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, more research is needed to confirm whether these six symptoms also apply to women and ethnic minorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to note that not everyone who has depression will go on to develop dementia, and people with dementia won\u2019t necessarily develop depression.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more Struggling with concentration or experiencing a decline in personal confidence during midlife could signal an elevated risk of developing dementia later in life, new research suggests. Academics at University College London (UCL) identified six specific symptoms in middle age that may serve as “early markers of underlying neurodegenerative processes.” The findings stem from an analysis of data from 5,811 participants in the UK Whitehall II study, who provided detailed information on their health, including mental well-being. During a follow-up period of an average of 23 years, 586 people developed dementia. Writing in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, researchers said six depressive symptoms \u201cemerged as robust midlife indicators of increased dementia risk\u201d. These include: Losing confidence in myself Not able to face up to problems Not feeling warmth and affection for others Nervous and strung-up all the time Not satisfied with the way tasks are carried out Difficulties concentrating Those who reported that t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}