http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/ en-us Mon, 24 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:52:15 GMT Silverchair editor@archpsyc.jamanetwork.com webmaster@archpsyc.jamanetwork.com http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=1171962 Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT Ligthart SA, Richard E, Fransen NL, et al. <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Context</div>Apathy in community-dwelling elderly individuals has been associated with a history of stroke and other cardiovascular disease.<div class="boxTitle">Objective</div>To assess the relationship between symptoms of apathy and cardiovascular risk factors or disease (stroke or other) in a large sample of elderly people aged 70 to 78 years without depression or dementia.<div class="boxTitle">Design</div>Cross-sectional data analysis within an ongoing cluster-randomized, open, multicenter trial.<div class="boxTitle">Setting</div>The Netherlands, general community.<div class="boxTitle">Participants</div>We studied 3534 elderly individuals without dementia who were included in the Prevention of Dementia by Intensive Vascular Care trial.<div class="boxTitle">Main Outcome Measures</div>Symptoms of apathy, assessed with 3 items from the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale, in participants with few or no depressive symptoms.<div class="boxTitle">Results</div>The median age of participants was 74.3 years. Principal components analysis of the Geriatric Depression Scale confirmed a separate factor for the apathy items (Geriatric Depression Scale–3A). Two or more symptoms of apathy were present in 699 participants (19.9%), of whom 372 (53.2%) were without depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale–12D score <2). Ordinal regression analysis showed that increasing apathy in the absence of depressive symptoms was associated with a history of stroke (odds ratio, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.38-2.31) and cardiovascular disease other than stroke (1.28; 1.09-1.52). Exploratory analysis among 1889 participants free from stroke and other cardiovascular disease revealed an association between apathy score and the following cardiovascular risk factors: systolic blood pressure (P = .03), body mass index (P = .002), type 2 diabetes mellitus (P = .07), and C-reactive protein (P < .001).<div class="boxTitle">Conclusions</div>Symptoms indicative of apathy are common in community-dwelling nondemented older people who are free from depression. The independent association of stroke, other cardiovascular disease, and cardiovascular risk factors with symptoms of apathy suggests a causal role of vascular factors.<div class="boxTitle">Trial Registration</div>isrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN29711771</span> 69 6 636 642 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.1858 http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=1171962