ABSTRACT
Psychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety and psychosis are common in neurocognitive disorders and might also be risk factors for dementia. Observational studies show that having depression carries a two-times higher dementia risk. It is unclear whether treatment of depression ameliorates risk. Prevention of risk factors for depression could affect dementia outcome. For anxiety and psychosis, few longitudinal studies exist, but these suggest a higher risk in the exposed group. Several biologically pathways explain the association between psychiatric disorders and later dementia risk. However, the long preclinical phase of neurodegenerative dementias makes it difficult to derive strong causal inferences.
