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52/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 52 out of 100. Risk factors

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Plain-language summary

Background Hippocampal volume reduction has been reported inconsistently in people with major depression. Aims To evaluate the interrelationships between hippocampal volumes, memory and key clinical, vascular and genetic risk factors. Method Totals of 66 people with depression and 20 control participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging and clinical assessment. Measures of depression severity, psychomotor retardation, verbal and visual memory and vascular and specific genetic risk factors were collected. Results Reduced hippocampal volumes occurred in older people with depression, those with both early-onset and late-onset disorders and those with the melancholic subtype. Reduced hippocampal volumes were associated with deficits in visual and verbal memory performance. Conclusions Although reduced hippocampal volumes are most pronounced in late-onset depression, older people with early-onset disorders also display volume changes and memory loss. No clear vascular or genetic risk factors explain these findings. Hippocampal volume changes may explain how depression emerges as a risk factor to dementia.

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APA 7th

Hickie, I., Naismith, S., Ward, P. B., Turner, K., Scott, E., Mitchell, P., et al. (2005). Reduced hippocampal volumes and memory loss in patients with early- and late-onset depression. The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.186.3.197

Vancouver

Hickie I, Naismith S, Ward PB, Turner K, Scott E, Mitchell P, et al. Reduced hippocampal volumes and memory loss in patients with early- and late-onset depression. The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science. 2005. doi:10.1192/bjp.186.3.197. PMID: 15738499.

BibTeX

@article{hickie2005-15738499,
  author  = {Hickie, I. and Naismith, S. and Ward, P. B. and Turner, K. and Scott, E. and Mitchell, P. and Wilhelm, K. and Parker, G.},
  title   = {{Reduced hippocampal volumes and memory loss in patients with early- and late-onset depression}},
  journal = {The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science},
  year    = {2005},
  doi     = {10.1192/bjp.186.3.197},
  pmid    = {15738499},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.186.3.197}
}

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 8 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

How to read this study

Design: our record does not state a study design, so check the methods section of the original before weighing the result.
Size: the record lists 66 participants. Ask whether that is enough for the question, and who they were.
Effect: the record gives no effect size, so the summary above cannot say how large any difference was.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded low. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Low means the abstract matched neither pattern. It is the default label, and it does not mean the work is poor; many sound lab and imaging papers land here. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

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Key findings

Results Reduced hippocampal volumes occurred in older people with depression, those with both early-onset and late-onset disorders and those with the melancholic subtype.
Reduced hippocampal volumes were associated with deficits in visual and verbal memory performance.
No clear vascular or genetic risk factors explain these findings.

Why it matters

In 66 people with depression and 20 controls, reduced hippocampal volumes occurred in older people with depression and were linked to worse verbal and visual memory. The authors suggest hippocampal volume changes may explain how depression becomes a risk factor for dementia, but no treatment, cure or prevention is tested.

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Study details

Participants66
Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 52/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science)
Journal's citation record	3 / 4	The British Journal of Psychiatry: journal h-index 376 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	2005 — older than 20 years, still counted
Sample size	1 / 4	66 participants
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	6 / 7	Cited 441 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	3 / 5	19.2 citations a year over 23 year(s) since 2005
Impact for its field and year	4 / 6	Cited 10.7× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	2 / 6	Cited by 4 other studies in this library
Still being cited	2 / 4	Cited 27 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	4 / 4	Last-listed author Gordon Barraclough Parker: h-index 105 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	1 / 3	The University of Sydney: institution h-index 1,466 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	2 / 3	PubMed indexes it as a multicentre study
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 15738499)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Total	52 / 100	—

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