By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

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TUESDAY, April 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Major and worsening depression may significantly increase seniors' risk of dementia, a new study suggests.

The research included close to 2,500 people in their 70s who did not have any signs of dementia at the start of the study. The participants were monitored for five years for symptoms of depression, and then for six years for signs of dementia.

Dementia developed in just over 21 percent of participants with serious and escalating symptoms of depression, compared to about 12 percent of those with consistently minimal symptoms of depression, the findings showed.

"Our results raise the possibility that older adults' cognitive [mental] health could be improved with interventions to reduce depressive symptoms, such as psychotherapy or other behavioral interventions, or medications," said study author Allison Kaup. She is an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco."This is an important topic for future treatment studies to investigate," she said in a university news release.

Kaup said researchers can't rule out the possibility that depression might be an early signal of dementia or an emotional response to a decline in thinking and memory skills. And the association seen in the study does not prove cause-and-effect.

However, "we found an almost twofold [dementia] increase among those with high and increasing symptoms" of depression, she said. "This suggests that a particular pattern of depressive symptoms may be an independent risk factor."

For many reasons, older patients should be screened for depression, including "a wealth of research showing that a variety of health and lifestyle factors influence cognitive health, such as physical activity and maintaining good cardiovascular health. Likewise, it appears that emotional health is important for cognitive health in aging," Kaup said.

The study appeared in a recent issue of the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

"Youth who join a gang are much more likely to have mental health issues, and then being in the gang actually makes it worse," said study co-author Chris Melde. He is an associate professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University.

"It [gang membership] doesn't act as an antidepressant. And some people may be seeking that out -- a sense of well-being or purpose," he said in a university news release.There are an estimated 850,000 gang members in the United States. Many young people -- particularly those who are poor and are minorities -- may believe gang membership will help them gain money, protection, status or a sense of belonging they don't have in places such as home and school, the researchers said.

But, "if you think of gang membership as a coping mechanism -- trying to cope with the hand you've been dealt in life -- it doesn't work," Melde said.

"Kids join gangs for reasons, but when we try to find the benefits -- whether it's for protection, a sense of worth, whatever -- we're finding it actually makes an already significant problem in their lives even worse," he added.

But the study did not prove that gang membership causes mental health problems.

The study was published online April 13 in the journal Criminal Justice and Behavior.

Spanking leads to antisocial behavior and mental health problems, an extensive study shows. GETTY
How do you punish a child?

Spanking isn't the answer, according to a study conducted by experts at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan.

Published in April's Journal of Family Psychology, the study – which uses data from 50 years of research on over 160,000 children – found that children punished using spanking were more likely to experience negative consequences such as aggression and antisocial behavior. Further, the more frequently children were spanked, the more likely they were to exhibit these undesirable behaviors.

Researchers say the study is "the most complete analysis to date of the outcomes associated with spanking," according to a press release. Previous studies focused more broadly on the effects of physical punishment as opposed to just spanking. In the study, spanking is defined as an open-handed hit on the behind or extremities.

"The upshot of the study is that spanking increases the likelihood of a wide variety of undesired outcomes for children. Spanking thus does the opposite of what parents usually want it to do," explained associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and study co-author Andrew Grogan-Kaylor in the release.

In fact, the study revealed that spanking and physical abuse were associated with the same negative outcomes.

"We as a society think of spanking and physical abuse as distinct behaviors," said co-author Elizabeth Gershoff, an associate professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, in the release. "Yet our research shows that spanking is linked with the same negative child outcomes as abuse, just to a slightly lesser degree."

The release, citing a 2014 UNICEF report, notes that as many as 80 percent of parents worldwide spank their children.

"We hope that our study can help educate parents about the potential harms of spanking and prompt them to try positive and non-punitive forms of discipline," Gershoff added.

Study participants were interviewed to determine the incidence of manic episodes. A second interview was conducted three years later to determine the subsequent incidence of depression or anxiety. Participants with mania had an approximately equal risk of developing depression (odds ratio of 1.7) or anxiety (odds ratio of 1.8). Both conditions were significantly more common among participants with than without mania. In addition, participants with depression had a significantly higher risk of developing mania (odds ratio of 2.2) or anxiety (odds ratio of 1.7) compared to those without depression.

Results of the report align with earlier research demonstrating that depression and anxiety commonly co-occur, and with twin studies indicating that depression and a common form of anxiety known as generalized anxiety disorder behave virtually as the same genetic condition. The new findings extend the close connection between depression and anxiety to individuals with bipolar disorder who have experienced episodes of mania.

"Although it has long been widely assumed that bipolar disorder represents repeated episodes of mania and depression as poles along a single continuum of mood, the clinical reality is often far more complex," said Mark Olfson, MD, MPH, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, research psychiatrist at New York State Psychiatric Institute, and lead author of the report. "The link between mania and anxiety suggests that patients whose main symptom is anxiety should be carefully assessed for a history of mania before starting treatment."

A broader clinical definition of bipolar disorder that includes episodes of mania along with anxiety or depression might lead to earlier identification of individuals with bipolar disorder and different approaches to treatment.

"For years, we may have missed opportunities to evaluate the effects of treatments for bipolar disorder on anxiety," said Dr. Olfson. "The results of our study suggest that researchers should begin to ask whether, and to what extent, treatments for bipolar disorder relieve anxiety as well as mania and depression."