Objectives: To find the relationship between cognitive deterioration and the symptoms of depression.
Patients and methods: A sample from the community of 602 persons, 200 of whom had been diagnosed as having dementia and 81 depression. Cognitive deterioration was evaluated using the CAMLOG and the depressive symptoms by means of the CAMDEX depression scale.
Results: On multiple regression analysis it was observed that the CAMLOG did not influence the results on the depression scale. Similarly, on ANOVA it was seen that the diagnosis of depression did not influence the results of CAMLOG either.
Conclusions: Cognitive deterioration does not affect depressive symptoms, nor does depression affect cognitive function.