OBJECTIVES The objective of this study is to examine the burden of depressive symptoms across the adult age span in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and test if the relationship between depressive symptoms and MS characteristics vary across age groups. METHODS In analyses of the MS Partners Advancing Technology and Health Solutions (MS PATHS) network of adults with MS, we compared the prevalence of depression in MS PATHS with non-MS controls across age and evaluated for effect modification by age in the association between depressive symptoms and clinical and neuroperformance measures via multivariable-adjusted regression models. RESULTS In total, 13,821 individuals with MS were included. The prevalence of depression was higher in MS versus non-MS controls, but was similar between men/women across age. The association between depression and processing speed (PST; p for interaction = 0.009) or walking speed (p for interaction = 0.04) varied by age. For example, younger depressed individuals had 0.45 standard deviation (SD) (95% confidence interval (CI) = -0.62, -0.29) worse PST Z-scores versus non-depressed younger participants, whereas older depressed individuals had 0.20 SD (95% CI = -0.32, -0.08) worse PST Z-scores versus non-depressed older participants. CONCLUSION Depressive symptoms and age should be considered when interpreting measures of walking speed and cognitive function; these findings may have implications for analyses of neuroperformance change.

中文翻译：

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成人一生中多发性硬化症的抑郁症

目的 本研究的目的是检查多发性硬化症 (MS) 患者在整个成年年龄范围内抑郁症状的负担，并测试抑郁症状与 MS 特征之间的关系是否因年龄组而异。方法 在对患有多发性硬化症的成人的多发性硬化症合作伙伴推进技术和健康解决方案 (MS PATHS) 网络进行分析时，我们将 MS PATHS 中抑郁症的患病率与非多发性硬化症对照者在各个年龄段进行了比较，并评估了年龄对抑郁症与抑郁症之间关系的影响。通过多变量调整回归模型进行症状以及临床和神经功能测量。结果 总共纳入了 13,821 名多发性硬化症患者。与非多发性硬化症对照者相比，多发性硬化症的抑郁患病率较高，但不同年龄段的男性/女性之间的抑郁患病率相似。抑郁症与处理速度（PST；交互作用 p = 0.009）或步行速度（交互作用 p = 0.04）之间的关联因年龄而异。例如，与非抑郁的年轻参与者相比，年轻的抑郁个体的 PST Z 分数差 0.45 个标准差 (SD)（95% 置信区间 (CI) = -0.62, -0.29），而老年抑郁个体的 PST Z 分数为 0.20 SD（95% CI = -0.32, -0.08) 与非抑郁的老年参与者相比，PST Z 分数更差。结论 在解释步行速度和认知功能的测量值时，应考虑抑郁症状和年龄；这些发现可能对神经表现变化的分析有影响。