SynthesisPsychological medicine2017
The association between cognitive function and subsequent depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Psychological medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 112 citations in OpenAlex.
- The relationship between depression and cognitive function among adults with spinal cord injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Spinal cord · 2026Pooled it
- Dual Sensory Impairment and Depressive Symptoms: Association and Pathways in Three Cohorts and a Meta-Analysis.Depression and anxiety · 2026Pooled it
- Change in Cognitive Function over the Course of Major Depressive Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2025Pooled it
- Cognitive Performance in First-Degree Relatives of Individuals With vs Without Major Depressive Disorder: A Meta-analysis.JAMA psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Depression and cognition: is there a bidirectional relationship?Aging & mental health · 2026Article
- Examining Heterogeneity in Cognitive Development Trajectories from Late Childhood to Emerging Adulthood and Their Association with Depressive Symptoms: Evidence from Eight Years of Nationally Representative Data in China.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Article
- National database analysis of prescription medication uses and cognitive function in older adults: An observational study.Medicine · 2026Observational
- Executive Dysfunction and Depression Risk in Adolescence: Functional-MRI Analysis of Transient Network States During a Working Memory Task.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2026Article
- Independent and joint associations of key social exposome components with cognitive aging: triangulating evidence through cross-national data.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Resource or crisis? Cognitive functioning after widowhood and why paid work status matters.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Perceived health benefits of martial arts and combat sports.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Combined prenatal exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and maternal distress is associated with childhood irritability.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Causal relationship and mediating role between depression and cognitive performance.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2025Article
- The effect of frailty on the relationship between cognition and depression symptoms in older people. A differential analysis by European regions.GeroScience · 2025Article
- A Network Analysis of Depression and Cognitive Impairments in Fibromyalgia: A Secondary Analysis Study.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2025Article
- Verbal memory in major depressive disorder in a long-term perspective: a five-year longitudinal study of first episode patients.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Association between internet exclusion and depressive symptoms among older adults: panel data analysis of five longitudinal cohort studies.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Article
- Associations of Major Lifetime and Everyday Discrimination with Cognitive Function among Middle-Aged and Older Adults.Ethnicity & disease · 2024Article
- Prenatal maternal Inflammation, childhood cognition and adolescent depressive symptoms.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Despite a growing interest in understanding the cognitive deficits associated with major depressive disorder (MDD), it is largely unknown whether such deficits exist before disorder onset or how they might influence the severity of subsequent illness. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal datasets to determine whether cognitive function acts as a predictor of later MDD diagnosis or change in depression symptoms. Eligible studies included longitudinal designs with baseline measures of cognitive functioning, and later unipolar MDD diagnosis or symptom assessment. The systematic review identified 29 publications, representing 34 unique samples, and 121 749 participants, that met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Quantitative meta-analysis demonstrated that higher cognitive function was associated with decreased levels of subsequent depression (r = -0.088, 95% confidence interval. -0.121 to -0.054, p < 0.001). However, sensitivity analyses revealed that this association is likely driven by concurrent depression symptoms at the time of cognitive assessment. Our review and meta-analysis indicate that the association between lower cognitive function and later depression is confounded by the presence of contemporaneous depression symptoms at the time of cognitive assessment. Thus, cognitive deficits predicting MDD likely represent deleterious effects of subclinical depression symptoms on performance rather than premorbid risk factors for disorder.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.