CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 569Mental Health Treatment and AccessAging, Health, and DisabilityTreatment of Major Depression

A tune in "a minor" can "b major": a review of epidemiology, illness course, and public health implications of subthreshold depression in older adults

Open access
Meeks, Thomas W., Vahia, Ipsit V., Lavretsky, Helen, Kulkarni, Ganesh, Jeste, Dilip V.·2011·Journal of Affective Disorders
DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2010.09.015PMC PMC3036776
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Background With emphasis on dimensional aspects of psychopathology in development of the upcoming DSM-V, we systematically review data on epidemiology, illness course, risk factors for, and consequences of late-life depressive syndromes not meeting DSM-IV-TR criteria for major depression or dysthymia. We termed these syndromes subthreshold depression, including minor depression and subsyndromal depression.Methods We searched PubMed (1980-Jan 2010) using the terms: subsyndromal depression, subthreshold depression, and minor depression in combination with elderly, geriatric, older adult, and late-life. Data were extracted from 181 studies of late-life subthreshold depression.Results In older adults subthreshold depression was generally at least 2-3 times more prevalent (median community point prevalence 9.8%) than major depression. Prevalence of subthreshold depression was lower in community settings versus primary care and highest in long-term care settings. Approximately 8-10% of older persons with subthreshold depression developed major depression per year. The course of late-life subthreshold depression was more favorable than that of late-life major depression, but far from benign, with a median remission rate to non-depressed status of only 27% after ≥1 year. Prominent risk factors included female gender, medical burden, disability, and low social support; consequences included increased disability, greater healthcare utilization, and increased suicidal ideation.Limitations Heterogeneity of the data, especially related to definitions of subthreshold depression limit our ability to conduct meta-analysis.Conclusions The high prevalence and associated adverse health outcomes of late-life subthreshold depression indicate the major public health significance of this condition and suggest a need for further research on its neurobiology and treatment. Such efforts could potentially lead to prevention of considerable morbidity for the growing number of older adults.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.jad.2010.09.015

Cites

145 of 145 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Depression or depressive symptoms are common in clinical settings, potentially reaching a prevalence of over 40% for individuals with MCI.

    “depression or depressive symptoms are common in clinical settings, potentially reaching a prevalence of over 40% for individuals with MCI”

    From Evaluation of a Novel Psychological Intervention Tailored for Patients With Early Cognitive Impairment (PIPCI): Study Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial (2020) · cites this paper as Meeks et al., 2011

    The Results > Epidemiology section reports that subthreshold depression is common in clinical settings, reaching approximately 33–61% among long-term-care residents. The Results > Health Outcomes section reports elevated minor-depression prevalence in cognitively impaired older adults, including people with MCI, but the cited figures are 17.2–27%, not over 40% for MCI specifically. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Sub-clinical depressive symptoms are associated with increased use of healthcare.

    “sub-clinical depressive symptoms are associated with the increased use of healthcare (Meeks et al., 2011)”

    From Evaluation of a Novel Psychological Intervention Tailored for Patients With Early Cognitive Impairment (PIPCI): Study Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial (2020) · cites this paper as Meeks et al., 2011

    The Results section (Health Outcomes: Risk Factor, Consequence, or Both?) reports that four of six prospective studies found increased healthcare utilization with subthreshold depression in older adults. The citing sentence omits that age restriction, so the source does not establish the association for people generally. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Subthreshold depressive symptoms are associated with increased disability, greater healthcare utilization, and increased suicidal ideation in later life.

    “Subthreshold depressive symptoms that do not meet criteria for a formal diagnosis of MDD (also known variously as subsyndromal, subclinical, or minor depression) are also associated with serious consequences in later life, including increased disability, greater healthcare utilization, and increased suicidal ideation (Meeks 2011)”

    From Psychological therapies for depression in older adults residing in long-term care settings (2024) · cites this paper as Meeks 2011

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. First MB Spitzer RL Gibbon M Williams JBW Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders, Research Version, Patient Edition (SCID-I/P) 2002 November New York Biometrics Research, New York State Psychiatric Institute

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Meeks, T. W., Vahia, I. V., Lavretsky, H., Kulkarni, G., & Jeste, D. V.
Affiliations
  • University of California San Diego (US)
  • University of California, Los Angeles (US)
  • San Diego State University (US)
Corresponding author
Jeste, Dilip V.
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Affective Disorders
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2011-03
Volume
129
Issue
1-3
Pages
126-142
ISSN
0165-0327 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jad.2010.09.015
PMC
PMC3036776
OpenAlex
W2014841928
Cited by
569
References
140
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 36 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 49 · 2021: 77 · 2020: 51 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 38 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 36 · 2014: 35 · 2013: 37 · 2012: 19
FWCI
29.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Journal of Affective Disorders (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute on Aging (T35 AG26757, T35AG026757)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (P30MH080002, K24MH086481)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
Keywords
subthreshold depression, minor depression, geriatric depression, older adults, prevalence, clinical course, remission, risk factors, disability, health care utilization, suicidal ideation, public health implications
MeSH terms
Age Factors, Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Major Depressive Disorder, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Severity of Illness Index, Disease Progression

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review