Grant: Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) program

Depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in older adulthood, with between 2-4% of older adults suffering from late-life depression. With the number of Canadian adults over the age of 65 expected to double over the next 20 years, directing patients to the optimal treatments will be essential in improving psychosocial function and quality of life, while minimizing healthcare burden. Depression also produces cognitive changes, increasing dementia risk. Innovative clinical trials have established non-invasive brain stimulation as an effective, tolerable, and cost-efficient therapy for older adults who have not responded to pharmacotherapy or psychotherapy, with some evidence for improved cognitive function following treatment. This project has the goal of informing future brain-based treatments, by identifying patient-level neural features that predict clinical and cognitive improvements in late life depression. Further, this work will advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying depression in older adulthood, disentangling the impacts of aging and mental health.