ARTICLE CRITIQUE: DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS AND LYMPHOCYTE PROLIFERATION IN OLDER ADULTS

There have been a number of studies that link depression with a suppression of the immunological function for adults of all ages. There have also been studies that focus on the effect of depression in older adults on their immunological function. These studies indicated that age and hospitalization status played a key role in immunological effectiveness, with inpatients showing signs of depression also having decreased mitogen responses compared to nondepressed inpatients. Interestingly, a key study showed no age-related changes for depressed outpatients (McGuire, Kiecolt-Glaser and Glaser, 2002).

It is these studies and their focus on inpatients that led McGuire, Kiecolt-Glaser and Glaser to conduct a study on older adults who live in residential care homesùcommunity dwelling older adultsùwho exhibit chronic, mild depressive symptoms. The authors intended to determine if the immunological function was negatively affected by the depression and whether age could be cited as a factor in these situations.

The researchers focused on spousal caregivers of patients with dementia and used noncaregiving individuals as controls. Those individuals who had health problems that impacted their immune system, such as cancer or recent surgeries, were excluded from participation. Depressive symptoms were based on self-reporting using the Beck Depression Inventory. Blood was drawn over the course o

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Approximate Word count = 908
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page)