81DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS PREDICT MEMORY DECLINE, AND VICE VERSA, OVER SUBSEQUENT 4 YEARS: LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS OF THE GUANGZHOU BIOBANK COHORT STUDY

Introduction: Late-life depression may increase dementia risk, raising the possibility of overlapping pathophysiology and potential preventive strategies. We examined whether: (a) baseline depressive symptoms predicted memory decline, and (b) baseline memory function predicted mood decline, in an older Chinese cohort. Methods: We conducted a prospective analysis based on the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study on 30,518 community-dwelling participants aged 50+ years with a mean follow-up period of 4.1 years. In an unselected sub-sample of 5,954 people (mean age 59.4 years, standard deviation 7.1, 75% females), we assessed baseline Geriatric Depression Score (GDS, maximum 15, higher score indicating more depressive symptoms) and a change in the Delayed 10-Word Recall Test score (DWRT, maximum 10 points, higher score indicating better memory) between baseline and follow-up. Conversely, we also assessed DWRT at baseline and a change in GDS between baseline and follow-up. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess the association between GDS and DWRT.