Late-life depression, typically defined as depression with onset in individuals over 60 years of age, can affect up to a third or more of people older than 60 and can be debilitating. But, like other neurological conditions, an individual's risk may be influenced by lifestyle choices. Researchers from Mass General Brigham previously developed and validated the Brain Care Score (BCS) for helping patients and clinicians identify lifestyle changes that may reduce their risk of dementia and stroke.
Now, with collaborators at Yale University, they have shown that a higher BCS is also associated with a lower risk of late-life depression. Findings, published in Frontiers in Psychiatry , provide further evidence of shared biological risk factors for stroke, dementia and depression and highlight the potential of the BCS to help patients make lifestyle changes to better care for their brain health. "The Brain Care Score is a simple tool designed to help anyone in the world answer the question, 'What can I do to take better care of my brain?'" said author Jonathan Rosand MD, MSc, co-founder of the McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital and the lead developer of the Brain Care Score.
"This paper provides compelling evidence that raising your BCS is not only likely to make your brain healthier and more resistant to diseases like dementia and stroke, but that it also offers the hope of protection from depression." The new study represents a collaboration among re.