Research

Previous research addressed the impact of medical illness and cerebrovascular disease, and candidate genes on cognitive and mood disorders in later life that can alter treatment response and serve as risk factors for future dementia. We have a constantly evolving portfolio of projects, and many require volunteers to participate. Please review our list of studies currently looking for participants.

 

Published Research

  • Cho HJ, Lavretsky H, Olmstead R, Levin M, Oxman MN, Irwin MR. Prior depression history and deterioration of physical health in community-dwelling older adults- A prospective cohort study. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2010 Jan 11. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 20220581.
  • Lavretsky H, Zheng L, Weiner MW, Mungas D, Reed B, Kramer JH, Jagust W, Chui H, Mack WJ. Association of depressed mood and mortality in older adults with and without cognitive impairment in a prospective naturalistic study. Am J Psychiatry. 2010 Feb 16. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 20160005.
  • Lavretsky H, Siddarth P, Irwin MR. Improving depression and enhancing resilience in family dementia caregivers: a pilot randomized placebo-controlled trial of escitalopram. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2010 Feb;18(2):154-62.
  • Mueller SG, Mack WJ, Mungas D, Kramer JH, Cardenas-Nicolson V, Lavretsky H,Greene M, Schuff N, Chui HC, Weiner MW. Influences of lobar gray matter and white matter lesion load on cognition and mood. Psychiatry Res. 2010 Feb 28;181(2):90-6.
  • Lavretsky H. Complementary and alternative medicine use for treatment and prevention of late-life mood and cognitive disorders. Aging health. 2009 Feb 1;5(1):61-78.
  • Lavretsky H, Siddarth P, Kepe V, Ercoli LM, Miller KJ, Burggren AC, Bookheimer SY, Huang SC, Barrio JR, Small GW. Depression and anxiety symptoms are associated with cerebral FDDNP-PET binding in middle-aged and older nondemented adults. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2009 Jun;17(6):493-502.
  • Small GW, Siddarth P, Burggren AC, Kepe V, Ercoli LM, Miller KJ, Lavretsky H, Thompson PM, Cole GM, Huang SC, Phelps ME, Bookheimer SY, Barrio JR. Influence of cognitive status, age, and APOE-4 genetic risk on brain FDDNP positron-emission tomography imaging in persons without dementia. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009 Jan;66(1):81-7.
  • Cho HJ, Lavretsky H, Olmstead R, Levin MJ, Oxman MN, Irwin MR. Sleep disturbance and depression recurrence in community-dwelling older adults: a prospective study. Am J Psychiatry. 2008 Dec;165(12):1543-50.
  • Elderkin-Thompson V, Ballmaier M, Hellemann G, Pham D, Lavretsky H, Kumar A. Daily functioning and prefrontal brain morphology in healthy and depressed community-dwelling elderly. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2008 Aug;16(8):633-42.
  • Lavretsky H. Neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer disease and related disorders: why do treatments work in clinical practice but not in the randomized trials? Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2008 Jul;16(7):523-7.
  • Lavretsky H, Zheng L, Weiner MW, Mungas D, Reed B, Kramer JH, Jagust W, Chui H, Mack WJ. The MRI brain correlates of depressed mood, anhedonia, apathy, and anergia in older adults with and without cognitive impairment or dementia. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2008 Oct;23(10):1040-50.
  • Lavretsky H. Neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer disease and related disorders: why do treatments work in clinical practice but not in the randomized trials? Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2008 Jul;16(7):523-7.
  • Lavretsky H, Zheng L, Weiner MW, Mungas D, Reed B, Kramer JH, Jagust W, Chui H, Mack WJ. The MRI brain correlates of depressed mood, anhedonia, apathy, and anergia in older adults with and without cognitive impairment or dementia. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2008 Apr 16.
  • Lavretsky H, Siddarth P, Kumar A, Reynolds CF 3rd. The effects of the dopamine and serotonin transporter polymorphisms on clinical features and treatment response in geriatric depression: a pilot study. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2008 Jan;23(1):55-9.
  • Lavretsky H, Ballmaier M, Pham D, Toga A, Kumar A. Neuroanatomical characteristics of geriatric apathy and depression: a magnetic resonance imaging study. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2007 May;15(5):386-94.
  • Lavretsky H, Nguyen LH. Innovations: geriatric psychiatry: diagnosis and treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease. Psychiatr Serv. 2006 May;57(5):617-9.
  • Lavretsky H, Park S, Siddarth P, Kumar A, Reynolds CF 3rd. Methylphenidate-enhanced antidepressant response to citalopram in the elderly: a double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot trial. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2006 Feb;14(2):181-5.
  • Lavretsky H, Roybal DJ, Ballmaier M, Toga AW, Kumar A. Antidepressant exposure may protect against decrement in frontal gray matter volumes in geriatric depression. J Clin Psychiatry. 2005 Aug;66(8):964-7.
  • Lavretsky H, Kurbanyan K, Ballmaier M, Mintz J, Toga A, Kumar A. Sex differences in brain structure in geriatric depression. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2004 Nov-Dec;12(6):653-7.
  • Lavretsky H, Ercoli L, Siddarth P, Bookheimer S, Miller K, Small G. Apolipoprotein epsilon4 allele status, depressive symptoms, and cognitive decline in middle-aged and elderly persons without dementia. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2003 Nov-Dec;11(6):667-73.
  • Lavretsky H, Kitchen C, Mintz J, Kim MD, Estanol L, Kumar A. Medical burden, cerebrovascular disease, and cognitive impairment in geriatric depression: modeling the relationships with the CART analysis. CNS Spectr. 2002 Oct;7(10):716-22.
  • Lavretsky H, Bastani R, Gould R, Huang D, Llorente M, Maxwell A, Jarvik L;UPBEAT Collaborative Group. Unified Psychogeriatric Biopsychological Evaluation and Treatment. Predictors of two-year mortality in a prospective "UPBEAT" study of elderly veterans with comorbid medical and psychiatric symptoms. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2002 Jul-Aug;10(4):458-68.
  • Lavretsky H, Kumar A. Clinically significant non-major depression: old concepts, new insights. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2002 May-Jun;10(3):239-55. Review.
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