International journal of geriatric psychiatry
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · May 2014
Apathy is an independent risk factor for incident cardiovascular disease in the older individual: a population-based cohort study.
Although depression is considered to be associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD), specifically symptoms of apathy have been strongly associated with a history of CVD in recent studies. In this study, we prospectively assess whether symptoms of apathy and depression are independent risk factors for incident CVD and stroke. ⋯ Apathy, but not depression, is a strong, independent risk factor for incident CVD. It may be a marker of underlying vascular disease. By its nature, apathy may cause non-adherence to a healthy lifestyle, diminished activities, and possibly even withdrawal from clinical care aimed at improving vascular risk profiles.
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · May 2014
Prognosis of delirium in hospitalized elderly: worse than we thought.
Despite treatment of the associated condition, delirious persons do not always recover for unknown reasons. We sought to determine early prognostic indicators of poor recovery following an episode of delirium in older medical in-patients. ⋯ Poor recovery after delirium is common and associated with certain characteristics. However, even "lower risk" delirious individuals do poorly. More research is needed to understand prognostic factors in delirium.