Prevalence of depressed mood versus anhedonia in older persons: Implications for clinical practice

Precision medicine approaches to depression argue for the assessment of individual client profiles of the two major diagnostic criteria of depressed mood and anhedonia. To explore this suggestion, 1,513 males and 1,348 females aged between 55 and 87 years from Newcastle, Australia, completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CESD). Total CESD score and the two sets of scores gradually increased with age; females had significantly higher scores on total CESD and the two subsets of scores. Anhedonia showed greater prevalence than depressed mood and also increased from age 70 years, whereas depressed mood remained fairly stable until age 80 years. Treatment efficacy for depression may benefit from consideration of individual client profiles on these two aspects of depression.