Elderly Heart Failure and Confusion

Cognitive deficits are common in patients with heart failure (HF); a study in Psychosomatics examined the relationship between the two, as well as the possibility that their severity increases when patients suffer from comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD). Researchers, using the Cambridge Mental Disorders of the Elderly Examination compared the cognitive performance of 20 MDD-HF subjects, 23 nondepressed HF subjects, and 18 healthy control subjects. Both HF groups scored lower relative to the control group. The study authors emphasized the importance of recognizing cognitive impairment in HF patients, with or without comorbid MDD. http://psy.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/48/1/22

-LS